


The Only Number I Care About is Yours

by justrae2010



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Accounting, Alternate Universe - Office, Anxious Katsuki Yuuri, Awkward Flirting, Boss/Employee Relationship, Career Week, Clerk!Yuuri, Director!Victor, Finance, Flirting, Fluff, M/M, Money
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-24
Updated: 2019-02-04
Packaged: 2019-02-06 08:37:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 70
Words: 75,746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12813759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justrae2010/pseuds/justrae2010
Summary: “Um, Victor? S-sorry to disturb you but, um-”“What do you need me to sign?”Finance Director Victor is his usual busy, getting on with the daily grind until the gorgeous new AR Clerk crashes through his monotonous life.





	1. Payment Run

**Author's Note:**

> Short piece I did for Career Week. 
> 
> Numbers are fun guys!

“Um, Victor? S-sorry to disturb you but, um-”

“What do you need me to sign?”

The Finance Director didn’t even look up from his desk, cheek propped up against his fist and silver bangs fluttered over his left eye. His right was glued to his computer screen, tiny frown marring his forehead as he analysed a spreadsheet with sharp cerulean blue eyes. They served him well - he had a reputation for being ruthlessly meticulous.

Maybe that was why he was cutting to the chase with Yuuri - after all, not many people came over to Victor’s part of the office except to ask for something. Usually his signature to release a payment.

Yuuri fumbled with the papers in his hands. “Um, this.”

He held the papers out with trembling hands, glad that at least they didn’t rustle traitorously with his shakes. Victor glanced at them out of the corner of his eye.

“They’re warranty credits for India. They, um, didn’t want to offset-”

The papers tugged out of Yuuri’s hands.

Whatever else Yuuri might have said died in his throat as Victor flipped the lid off his exquisite fountain pen with a pop and slapped the papers down on the desktop, eyes scouring over the cover sheet all the while. He turned the page with a flick of his fingers. Then the other. Then back to the cover sheet, scanning over the bank details one more time, nib of his pen resting by the dotted line above his typed name.

Yuuri’s heart was in his mouth.

Everybody knew about the Finance Director. Youngest director in the company’s history, ruthless and shrewd, absolutely brilliant... and  _ devastatingly handsome. _ That silver hair and those crystal blue eyes had Yuuri all but melting into a puddle at his feet, the pale complexion of his skin looking so beautiful it was hard not to stare. But if he didn’t stare at Victor’s face, then his body was just as distracting. His suits were always perfectly crafted for his body, always the best colours and styles, emphasising the sleek lines of his slim torso and the all too perfect curve of his ass-

“Here.”

The paper waved under Yuuri’s nose with a flap.

Yuuri’s face flushed red.

Victor’s swirly elegant signature danced on the cover sheet in sleek black ink, still glinting in the lights as it dried. Yuuri just stared at it, mesmerised. It was  _ beautiful. _

The paper rustled, bobbing once.

Yuuri didn’t get the hint.

Not until a bored - almost glaring - gaze cast in his direction, reluctantly dragged away from the computer screen. It caught Yuuri’s eye instantly. He all but gasped, heat flooding his face with embarrassment. Pure disdain bled through the Director’s gaze, dark through the silvery lashes fanned over it, the dull boredom stark and sharp as he flickered away from the spreadsheet.

Yuuri felt his heart drop into his stomach, throat running dry. His mouth hung open gormlessly, face glowing red with humiliation.

Now, he got the hint.

His gaze dropped down to his shoes in a heartbeat and he gripped the papers just a little too hard as he took them back, fingers crinkling the pages ever so slightly.

He should go, he thought. He should go, and run, and hide under his desk for the rest of his life for being the most awkward AP Clerk in the history of the world who couldn’t even talk to the director to release a payment without screwing up -

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he caught Victor do a double take.

Those brilliant blue eyes had just started to swivel back to the computer screen after what must have been less than a second of a glare - though to Yuuri it had felt like a lifetime! - when the director’s neck whipped back to Yuuri, his gaze blinking wide. Yuuri glanced up through his lashes, hardly daring to look.

What he saw made his breath catch all over again - but for completely different reasons this time.

The glare was gone. Instead, Victor’s eyes sparkled and shimmered, blinked wide with surprise and delight instead of hooded with a glare. His thick silver eyelashes fluttered. His fringe had flicked out of his face, pretty pink lips parted and the tiniest of gasps passing through them, so quiet that Yuuri more saw than heard it. A blush stained the Director’s usually perfect porcelain cheeks. _ A blush! _

Yuuri shuffled on his feet, feeling his own face darken. What had he done now? Did he have something on his face?

Then he blinked.

And - oh God, Victor was rising to his feet.

“Hi,” he smiled.  _ Smiled.  _ “I don’t think we’ve met before. I’m Victor.”

Yuuri didn’t see the hand outstretched to him until the last minute, jostling the papers around to free up his suddenly very clammy right hand. A page fluttered to the floor.  _ Damn it. _

He wanted to leave it, forget it, find it in a second… only he desperately needed those documents that he’d put himself through such humiliation to get signed and he couldn’t afford to lose them now. All it would take would be a gust from a window, a door shutting too hard, somebody walking by just a little fast and the air could catch under the page, carry it away, lose it forever…

“I, um, sorry, I’ll just-”

“Here, let me-”

They both crouched.

They both reached for the paper.

They both paused, catching the other do the same - but not before their fingers had already bumped over the page, fingertips frozen. Their eyes linked, blinking up in the same moment. Neither one of them moved.

Victor was the first to smile. “You work in Celestino’s department, right?”

“Yeah, um, that’s right.”

“Are you the one that’s doing such beautiful work reconciling the control accounts?”

“I, um…” Yuuri cleared his throat. “Beautiful?” He’d never heard anybody call accounting beautiful before.

“Beautiful.” Victor reaffirmed. “The way you really understand the numbers, work out their secrets … you really tell a story with how you connect with the transactions instead of just trying to write off the balances. I admire that.”

Yuuri’s blush darkened, eyes dipping down to the fallen page on the floor. Victor hadn’t moved his hand, fingers still draped casually over his. Yuuri felt every millimetre of their contact, Victor’s skin cool to the touch and lifting the tiny hairs on the back of Yuuri’s hand to stand on end, sending shivers down his spine. He hoped Victor didn’t notice – that brilliant beam and those sharp blue eyes looked like they noticed everything though.

“Um, thanks.”

If he moved his hand now and pulled the page away, would Victor be offended? Would he take it personally? Yuuri didn’t dare move just in case, running through each possible escape scenario in his head and envisioning how badly it could go.

His thighs were starting to ache from crouching in such an awkward position, pinned under Victor’s gaze like it was a physical weight around his neck, holding him down from leaving.

“Are you studying?”

Yuuri internally groaned. Another question – another minute balanced on the floor, with his hand under Victor’s, when all he wanted to do was crawl into the bathroom and scream into his jumper-

“Y-yes,” was all he said aloud, instead of his internal monologue. “AAT Level 2 Accounting.”

“Going well?”

“So far, yes.”

Victor’s eyes shone, his smile widening a fraction. It looked genuine. “I’m glad.”

Sea green streaked through the director’s gaze at the upturn in the corner of his mouth, the colour warm and inviting compared to the ice chipped blue it swirled through. It fluttered butterflies in Yuuri’s stomach. The colours were dancing in the poor lights of the office, giving off a shine of their own. It was so pretty. Yuuri couldn’t stop staring and - oh God, now he couldn’t stop thinking about how pretty the rest of the director was too!

He barely noticed Victor’s hand shift beneath his, the smooth slither of skin on skin not enough to jolt Yuuri out of his coma. The loud click from his knees was though.

“Ow,” he winced, blinking down.

It was only then he realised they weren’t crouching anymore. 

“Well, if you ever need any help-” Victor went on as if nothing had happened, stood in front of Yuuri with the stray paper in hand. “Or have any questions-” His fingers glided along the page - grazing over Yuuri’s. His eyes shone gloriously. “I’m always happy to help.”

Victor winked.

Yuuri felt the floor give out beneath him, heat flooding his face. 

There was no mistaking that, not by anybody’s standards. A wink - the director was  _ flirting  _ with him! With him, a lowly clerk, who-

“You never told me your name.”

Yuuri gasped - he really needed to get out of his head and start concentrating on what Victor was saying, and doing, and-

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Victor tilt his head ever so slightly to the side, frown starting to furrow his brow and bright eyes marring with a touch of confusion. Yuuri swore silently in his head. He was doing it again, and Victor _ was  _ noticing. 

What had the question been again? 

“Y-Yuuri,” he said, when he remembered. “Yuuri Katsuki.”

He tried to ignore the heat quickly gathering on his cheeks, but it wasn’t an easy feat when his blush only darkened more with every passing second,  _ feeling  _ Victor’s gaze look right through him. Like he could see what Yuuri was thinking, judging him. Maybe he could see it in Yuuri’s face or in his eyes, in the way Yuuri caught his lower lip in his teeth just to stop himself from accidentally blabbing even though he just  _ couldn’t stop the words in his head- _

But then Victor was smiling again and Yuuri just forgot how words worked entirely in that moment, Victor’s face lighting up beautifully.

“Yuuri….” he toyed with the name, stretching out the syllables. Yuuri wanted to hear it again, watch it roll off Victor’s tongue, see the flash of delight in his gaze spark off all over again. “I look forward to seeing you again soon,  _ Yuuri _ .”

_ There it was again! _

Yuuri’s heartbeat was pounding in his fingertips as he felt his arm thud to his side, paper rustling. Victor had let go of the page.

Right - Yuuri was done.

Still, he got one more look at that glorious smile and those heart melting eyes, committing them to memory. He felt himself start to smile back - crooked and awkward compared to Victor’s smooth grin.

He didn’t care. 

“You too …  _ Victor _ .”

The papers wrinkled against his chest as he turned and clutched them tight, focusing on each crease he was bending into the pages rather than the eyes he could feel still watching him as he slowly walked away. The smile on his face stretched wider, something warm blooming pleasantly behind his ribcage.

He couldn’t wait for the next payment run.


	2. Reconciling

Victor had an obscenely bright smile on his face as he crossed the office with long, purposeful strides, open laptop balanced on his hand like a waiter might carry a tray in a fancy restaurant. His eyes carved his path towards the dark hair poking up from behind the computer monitor, bowed over some papers. Victor’s heart skipped a beat regardless, trying to control the rush of blood warming his cheeks with excitement.

_Finally._

Finally, he got a chance to talk to Yuuri Katsuki.

It had been far too long, the embarrassment of their last encounter still painfully fresh in Victor’s mind. A man like him didn’t forget. He needed to do better this time.

 _Play it cool,_ he willed of himself in his head, forcing his breaths out in long, steady strokes. Even they felt embarrassingly obvious. He needed to calm down. _Play it cool, play it smooth, play it cool-_

Victor tripped.

His laptop clacked down hard on the desktop as the front of his ankle collided with the low leg of a swivelling chair with a hard crack and he pitched forward, legs turning to jelly beneath him, heart in his mouth. His hand slapped out, wild and impulsive – it hit the table top a fraction of a second before his face would have.

Air choked out of Victor’s lungs when everything stopped, bangs rustling in front of his face and heartbeat hammering in his chest with shock. He stared down at the desktop he’d been inches away from slamming into, eyes wide.

“Oh my God!”

Chair wheels squeaked. Smart shoes peeked into the corner of Victor’s down turned eyes. Victor’s heart plummeted – he recognised those shoes.

“A-are you okay?”

Not quite the suave entrance he was hoping for but Victor still tried to hold together the last of his composure as he slowly straightened up, hand firm on the desktop and careful his knees wouldn’t give out beneath him or face burst into shameful colour. His mouth stayed drawn a thin, mortified line though, eyes steeling with his resolve not to just let his face fall into his hands with embarrassment.

Yuuri’s eyes were round and glittering, shimmering with genuine concern. It pulled on Victor’s heartstrings – he was just so _cute!_

“Y-yeah, I’m fine,” Victor said with a stiff smile, brushing off his waistcoat and trying to ignore that faint tremor in his voice. “I, um…” Oh God, what did he need again? “I need you to contact the, um... the Poland ... they’re not agreeing to our balance.”

Yuuri blinked.

“Um … yeah,” he finally said. “Sure.” His cheeks dusted pink, eyes flickering to the chair Victor had tripped over. “Maybe you… maybe you should sit down for a bit?”

The colour looked gorgeous on him, just like it had during their first fumble with the paperwork. Victor liked that rosy blush on Yuuri, he decided, heart skipping a beat at the steady bloom of colour lifting his cheekbones and smattering over the bridge of his nose.

It took a minute for Yuuri’s words to sink in.

…and when they did, Victor tried not to choke on his own spit.

Sit? As in, _there?_ Next to _Yuuri?_ Victor was backing into the chair before he knew it, nearly cartwheeling it back in his haste.

“Um, yes,” he stumbled over his words. He wasn’t usually this flustered. “I think you’re right.”

 _About everything,_ he rambled on in his head. _About the seat, about the numbers, about everything in the whole universe, and I will make this my new desk to sit here forever-_

“Is it Dawid for Poland?”

Victor blinked up from his thoughts, snapping back to reality. Yuuri stared at him with the sweetest little confused pinch between his eyebrows. Victor didn’t stand a chance…

Yuuri’s frown deepened. “…is he the best contact?”

Oh, right, Victor remembered, jolting himself out of the haze of Yuuri’s caramel brown eyes, flecked with fringes of gold. Yuuri was talking to him.

“Yes,” he sighed, breathier than he meant to. He cleared his throat, hoping Yuuri didn’t notice. “Dawid and Tatiana.”

Yuuri pushed back on his chair with a nod, fingers already reaching for his keyboard. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll chase them up now.”

Minutes later, a new email pinged up on Victor’s screen. From Yuuri. Victor clicked it open in a heartbeat.

It was nothing special, just exactly what Victor had asked for with him CC-ed into the request. _Please amend your balance,_ it said, _as per the attached statement of your closing account balance for January._ An excel file was attached, labelled nice and neatly. Everything was perfect. Polite but urgent, pressing but not pushy. It was exactly what Victor had wanted and Yuuri had delivered flawlessly. Victor lingered on the electronic signature at the bottom – _Yuuri Katsuki …_ his eyes flickered across the desk.

Sparkling brown eyes and shy, sweet smile shot back at him, looking adorably nervous and slightly unsure and-

Victor all but melted in his chair, heart fluttering.

Oh, Yuuri was so _good._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I may not be able to do loads of big updates on this, but little ones... yeah, I think I could manage that. It's not like I write these on company time when inspiration suddenly hits me like a train or anything hahahah *looks over shoulder for my boss* *awkward laughing*
> 
> Keep tabs on my tumblr [here](https://justrae2010.tumblr.com/) and check out my other YOI fics [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justrae2010/pseuds/justrae2010)
> 
> Please drop a comment before you go !
> 
> Hope you liked it!


	3. Debtors

“God, I love Japan.”

Yuuri tipped his head back and sighed, smile spreading over his face that _finally_ something was going right.

Across the desk, his best friend and colleague, Phichit Chulanont, flickered a smirk. “Payment came in?”

“You know it.”

Of all the countries that owed the company money, he could always rely on the Japan office to make payment in time. Right down to the day they always said they would. It made Yuuri’s life so much easier, one less email to have to send nagging relentlessly for when money would hit their bank account.

“Any luck from Thailand?”

Phichit leaned back from his desk. “Unfortunately my country men are not as efficient as yours. I’ve sent them another email, but…” he flopped his dark bangs out of his eyes, holding Yuuri’s gaze. He shrugged. “I mean, I wouldn’t hold my breath.”

Yuuri groaned. “Don’t say that,” he said, running a hand through his hair and ruffling it up behind his ear. “That will be two months in a row that they haven’t made a payment…”

“They’re up to ten grand now.”

“Oh God …”

Yuuri groaned quietly in his throat again, head falling forward. His mind raced behind his eyes, thinking. He had roughly five more days before he had to report his Debtor’s file to Victor, present who was paying them on time and who wasn’t. Sure, he’d done all he could to chase up the funds owed, but he was still disappointed that it was likely things wouldn’t be as neat as he would like for when he had to talk to Victor. Singapore hadn’t paid, nor India, nor Russia, nor Ukraine…

“What a shame,” Phichit said, very unsympathetic. “Guess you’ll just have to go and talk to Victor about it …”

The blush slammed onto Yuuri’s cheeks at the Director’s name matched with the suggestive wiggle of Phichit’s eyebrows, grey eyes alight and dancing with mischief. He knew. Of course, he knew. Anybody with eyes knew…. Yuuri just didn’t know they knew.

“Phichit!” he hissed under his breath, eyes flickering up to Victor’s desk across the office. Victor’s _empty_ desk, luckily – he’d been in a meeting for the last hour.

His best friend just giggled. “What?” his hands splayed out in mock innocence, like he didn’t already know. “You mean you _don’t_ have the biggest crush on the guy?”

“I mean, he-”

“Doing all of his invoices the second they come in?”

“Phichit, I-”

“Staying late _studying-_ ”

“That’s really not-”

“Taking Lilia’s stuff to Victor for signing even though they’re not even our _department_ -”

“Okay, okay, I get it!”

Yuuri jumped before he could help it at the loudness of his own voice – surprising himself! –eyes bolting around the office for who might have heard. An unfamiliar head poked up across the far side, narrow eyed and curious. Yuuri ignored them. Everybody else was on lunch, their side of the office empty save for themselves.

His eyes fell back to his computer, sigh of relief breathing through his lips. He tried to focus on the screen, on the payment he’d received, on gathering the invoice number being paid off so he could strike them off of Japan’s account-

Phichit nudged his arm.

Yuuri could see his best friend’s shit-eating grin out of the corner of his eye, the state of Japan’s account spinning right out of his trail of thought. He fought the urge to grin back.

“Go on,” Phichit prompted with another nudge.

Yuuri smirked, teasing. “What?”

“I need to hear you say it.”

Yuuri pressed his lips together and dipped his eyes down, feeling the blush was warm over his cheeks. It wasn’t like his usual blush, all hot and fiery, thick with humiliation at the drop of the hat – this was gentle and rosy, kissing over his skin like every pink dot was hand painted on him by Da Vinci. It was warming, something swelling behind his left ribs every time the sensation washed over him.

“Okay,” he said, biting his lip gently. “I … I like him.”


	4. Mouse

Victor had taken two steps into the office when he screamed, loud and piercing. There was nothing dignified about it; the sound was sharp and shrill, laptop bag slipping off his shoulder as he recoiled and leapt back, hitting the floor with a clunk. His back flattened against the wall, eyes bolt wide with shock.

At the mouse.

Yuuri lay on his stomach on the office floor, staring at through the upturned pint glass that trapped it in place, his bright brown eyes blinking up at Victor’s dramatic entrance.

He smiled. “Hi.”

Victor just stared.

There was a mouse. A tiny little brown-grey mouse in the middle of his office trapped under a glass, shuffling around its small haven with a twitching nose and sensitive whiskers, pressing its paws up against the wall of the glass … and all Yuuri could say was ‘ _hi’_?!

“What is that?” Victor asked as calmly as he could, heart still running away with him behind his ribcage.

Yuuri blinked. “It’s a mouse.”

“Why is there a mouse in my office?”

Yuuri just shrugged, head tilting innocently to the side. “There’s mice all over this building,” he said, eyes rolling up to run along the ceiling panels above. Victor didn’t want to think about what was scurrying on behind them. “Didn’t you know?”

Victor pressed his eyes shut.

“No,” he forced out through gritted teeth, peeling himself away from the wall. His shoulders stayed tense though. “I did not know.”

“Oh...”

Victor didn’t know what to think – other than he would be having a serious discussion with the facilities manager at some stage soon. He knew their building wasn’t brand, spanking new but he hadn’t know it was  _that_ old, in  _that_ much disrepair that mice were skulking around the framework.

He wasn’t afraid of them per say, he just … didn’t like them. Nor the parasites, and germs they carried. Not in his office.

“I think this is the baby,” Yuuri said, voice soft. “The mom got away.”

Victor tried not to shudder at the thought of a family of mice, huddled in the ceiling panels above his desk, scuttling and nibbling until the panel gave way and a shower of vermin fell down on him like a hail from hell –“She left him?”

Victor peeled his eyes open and was blessed with the sight of Yuuri still stretched out casually over the floor in his smart office attire, arms folded under his chest and eyes peeking up over his blue rimmed glasses. It wasn’t appropriate – it was too cute, and that mop of black hair was too adorable, and it was totally unfair … and Yuuri’s big, brown eyes looked genuinely sad.

“Yeah,” he said, mouth down turning. His eyes sparkled miserably.

It pulled on Victor’s heartstrings.

He stepped closer – just as the mouse stood up on it hind legs and swivelled its whiskers in his directions, tail curling around the back of the glass. He guessed it was kind of cute… maybe… if Yuuri thought it was… “Poor little guy.”

A bright smile flickered over the glass, making Victor’s heart skip a beat. “See,” Yuuri beamed, eyes shining. “He’s cute, right?”

“I guess …” Victor crouched down across the glass from Yuuri, elbow on his knee. He stared down at the mouse, head cocked to the side, brushing his bangs back behind his ear. Well, if he was going to have to get used to it for a while… “What should we call him?”

Yuuri blinked up in surprise, lips parted and eyes shining. “U-um…”

“Who caught him?”

“Leo.”

Victor thought for a moment. “We’ll call him Leo II.”

Maybe the mouse wasn’t so bad, stuck under a glass with a cute little name, running its tiny paws over its face and scratching its ears. And it made Yuuri smile. Victor suddenly found it a lot more appealing knowing that just existing the mouse could make Yuuri light up like that. At least Leo II couldn’t cause any more trouble where he was. The rest of his cohort though…

Victor didn’t notice the smile start to slide from Yuuri’s face again.

“Leo II is going to the exterminator.”

Victor’s heart dropped. “Oh,” he said dumbly, cold washing over him watching the joy slip back out of Yuuri’s expression. He wanted that smile back... “Not if we get there first. Come on.”

He didn’t wait to watch the surprise spark in Yuuri’s eyes – Victor just pushed himself to his feet and swiped a mouse mat from the nearest desk, trying not to grin to himself at the irony, and knelt back down with a hand firm over the glass. He peeled it up off the floor slowly, slipping the mouse mat through the gap as he did. Leo II hopped on when there was nowhere else for him to go, trapped between the shrinking floor space and the mouse mat.

Once he was on, Victor slid the rest of the glass on, sitting square on the mat in just as inescapable a fort as before. Only  _portable_.

He slipped his hand underneath with a flourish, beaming as he straightened up, taking the mat/glass combo up with him. Everything was sturdy, Leo II all but sat happily in the palm of his hand, nose twitching.

Victor winked down at Yuuri. “Let’s go.”

Yuuri all but scrambled to his feet.

He followed Victor without a word – silent and bug eyed – eyes glued to the mouse perched in Victor’s hands.  What was he going to do?

It didn’t click until Victor walked out of the office entirely, right out of the front door, access clicking off automatically behind them. Yuuri shivered in his thin shirt, wrapping his arms around himself. Victor didn’t so much as shudder, dropping down carefully onto one knee and setting the mouse mat down on the payment – he was going to let it go, Yuuri realised, reaching a hand up to hide the ridiculous smile spreading over his face.

“There you go, Leo II,” Victor murmured when the mat/glass cage settled without incident and he leaned back on his heel slightly. His hand lingered on the top of the glass. “Do  _svidaniya_!”

The glass came off with a flourish.

And Leo II vanished before Yuuri could even blink.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In memory of our little office mouse that we regrettably could not smuggle out before the exterminator arrived. Not sure what happened to Donald II, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t pleasant. RIP, dude!


	5. Double Entry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure how funny this will be to non-accounting people but, er … it’s funny, okay! Got a few chuckles around the kettle.

“You need to get out more.”

Yuuri didn’t look up, stirring the sugar into his tea. “I get out fine.”

“Skating by yourself at the rink at weekends isn’t quite what I had in mind. I was thinking something a little more … social.”

“That _is_ social enough for me.”

“No, Yuuri…”

Phichit had his hip leaned back against the counter of the office kitchen while Yuuri made his tea, rubbing his fingers over his eyes in exasperation with a heavy sigh. His head shook. Yuuri just ignored him. He’d been playing the same tune for the last hour – ever since Leo had come round the office trying to round up interest for an office football club, with extended trips to the pub afterwards…

“I’m with Phichit,” Guang Hong – their Product Developer – said from beside the refrigerator. “You need some balance in your life. You work too hard.”

“I’m all for balance.” Yuuri insisted, squeezing the tea bag against the side of the mug, rinsing the last of the flavour out of it. “I just happen to think my life isn’t particularly out of balance. It’s aligned how I like it.”

Phichit’s head just shook. “You work too hard for how little social time you do-”

“-It’s all about balance-” Guang Hong chipped in.

“-like Ying and Yang.”

Yuuri’s mouth opened, cheeks warming and smirk teasing at the corners of his lips … and snapped shut again.

But not before Phichit noticed.

“What?”

Yuuri’s cheeks glowed pink. “No, nothing.”

“No, come on…”

Yuuri’s teeth snagged his lower lip, chewing nervously. His grin still peeked through though. “I was going to say something … but it would be really nerdy…”

“Okay, now I’m interested…”

Phichit turned, leaning his right hip on the counter and folding his arms expectantly over his chest, curious frown tweaked in Yuuri’s direction.

Yuuri paused, unsure. Then-

“It shouldn’t be like Ying and Yang, Phichit,” he finally just sighed, pressing his lips together to hold back his grin. He couldn’t help it. He was excited, pausing for effect. “We’re finance – it should be _double entry_.”

He was beaming by the time he was finished. He couldn’t help it. He was proud of himself, proud of the grin spreading over Phichit’s face and the sparkle of amusement glittering in his eyes, proud that he’d told a joke for once that was _actually funny_ – too busy to notice the shadow filling the doorway behind him.

The bark of laughter behind him caught him completely off guard.

His tea spoon clattered to the floor in shock.

Yuuri span around with a gasp fresh on his lips, face already paling in surprise and eyes popping wide at the sight of Victor in the doorway, arms casually folded over his strong chest and shoulder leaning against the doorframe. A playful smirk danced on his lips, eyes bright and glittering.

“Good one,” the director winked with another chuckle, rosy glow on his cheeks. “I must remember that.”

Yuuri just stared.

“I’m sorry,” Guang Hong piped up from behind. “I don’t follow…”

Victor’s eyes flickered over Yuuri’s head. “Double entry is the core principle of accounting,” he explained smoothly, unfolding his arms from across his chest and splaying open his hands – like balanced scales. “For every debit, there must be a credit, and vice versa. Both have to balance perfectly. So since Yuuri’s in finance,” a grin flickered in the clerk’s direction. Yuuri just flushed, ducking his head down. “Double entry is more an appropriate analogy. He’s not missing the Ying to his Yang, he’s missing the debit from his credit.”

Yuuri could feel how hot his face was, how red he must be. He wasn’t sure what he was more shocked about – the fact that Victor had heard about Yuuri’s pitiful lack of social life or the fact he had actually _agreed_ with his joke and had laughed at it…

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Victor’s smile slide and his face run white.

“Not that, um, I’m saying you are,” the director backtracked quickly, shoulders tensing. “I mean, I just, um-”

Yuuri still didn’t have any words. Victor’s shoelaces looked particularly interesting that morning…

He heard Victor gulp.

“I have, um…” Victor’s finger pointed across the kitchen at nothing, to where the office would be through the wall. His knuckles were white. “Spreadsheets…”

Yuuri just ducked his head lower as Victor slipped out of the kitchen with another mutter of ‘ _spreadsheets’_ under his breath, listening to his footsteps as he went. He didn’t join Phichit at the door, angling back to watch the director go – so he didn’t see the bitter shake of Victor’s head as he went, the palm of his hand that knocked against his temples in frustration, and the ‘ _spreadsheets? Really?!_ ’ that hissed behind in his wake.

Yuuri just sipped his tea, ignorant, warming his hands around the mug and trying to focus on that instead.

“He so likes you.”

Yuuri choked on his tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m sure Yuuri would probably drink coffee in an American office, but since this is inspired by my work office and my work office drinks tea, they’re drinking tea. 
> 
> Welcome to Team GB.
> 
> Also, I am going to be taking a break from the internet for a while. Specifically for forty days. Decided to give up social media for Lent, so… since this will be the last update before I go internet-free. I'm sorry. It will be a while for the next post. I'll do my best to write lots in the interim. Have an excellent month and a half and good luck with Lent for those that celebrate (not sure what other events/holidays might be observed over that time period for other cultures/religions, but good luck on those too whatever they are!). I’ll still be writing over this time but no AO3, no Tumblr, Facebook, Insta, Snapchat, Twitter, Pinterest, YouTube … *sigh* bye bye distractions. 
> 
> Messages, comments, etc I'll respond to when I'm back on the web and have a great forty odd days without me harassing you with updates haha
> 
> Thanks for all the support so far!! I literally love you all so much for reading and dropping me comments, it really means the world to me. You guys really are the best!
> 
> See ya later!


	6. Skype Chat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So our company has that Skype for Business IM chat thing and this is kind of based on that.
> 
> And we have totally not done that to our boss on the phone before… we wouldn’t do that… ;)…

Victor was bored. There was no way to drum it up – he was stuck in a phone conference call about next year’s budget rates with his boss in St Petersburg with his corporate accountant and VAT expert, Christophe Giacometti, by his side, cheek leaning into his propped up fist… and Victor was bored.

Until Chris hit the mute button on the phone, silencing their side of the call.

“What’s wrong, cheri?” he purred, leaning his fist into his propped up fist on the desk to match Victor, head cocking to the side curiously.

Victor just sighed.

“Just the usual,” he said, turning down the volume on Yakov’s whining. He wasn’t even sure what it was he was complaining about anymore. Victor just tuned him out whatever it was, pretending he wasn’t there.

“You sure?”

“Mm-hm.”

“You need to spend more time with that clerk of yours.”

Victor jerked upright, eyes sharpening. “What?!”

“You know, the cute one? Yuuri-something?”

“I  _ know _ who you mean, Chris.” Victor forced out stiffly. “And no! God, no! I know what you’re thinking and no. He’s an  _ employee _ .”

“So?”

“So no.”

“So… he’s on Skype right?”

“What?” Victor caught on too late – the Corporate Accountant already had his hands on Victor’s laptop. He knew exactly what Chris had on his mind. “Chris! No, don’t-”

“Too late!”

Victor heard the fateful ping of the message send, knowing exactly who it was going to… he just didn’t know what it said. He wrenched his laptop back out of Chris’s hands, glaring hard at his friend.

_ Victor Nikiforov: Hi Yuuri _

_ Victor Nikiforov: How are you? _

_ Victor Nikiforov: Wish you were here ;) _

Victor’s hand slapped over his mouth in horror. Chris had sent that?! To Yuuri?! Oh God, Victor wasn’t sure how he was going to dig his way out of this one…

His laptop pinged with an inbound message.

Victor held his breath.

_ Yuuri Katsuki: Hi _

_ Yuuri Katsuki: Do you need me to get something for you? _

Victor breathed out a sigh of relief he hadn’t realised he’d been holding. Yuuri hadn’t taken offence to it. He just wanted to help. Victor’s lips curved in a smile, head shaking – that was so like Yuuri…

Only now Victor had no idea what to say back.

“Ugh,” Victor hissed with a glance at the phone, like Yakov still might be able to hear them somehow. “Now I have to think of something work related to ask him!”

Chris just scoffed. “No, you don’t. Just ask him out.”

“I can’t do that.”

“Yes, you can.”

“Chris, I  _ can’t _ …”

“Fine, I’ll do it for you.”

“Chris, no-”

Victor clung tight to his laptop like Christophe might wrench it from his cold, dead hands and send filth to Yuuri in Victor’s name, ruining his reputation and his carefully budding relationship with Yuuri. Their  _ work relationship _ , of course. Work. Colleagues. Employer and employee…

A knock at the door distracted him.

“Ah, Yuuri!”

Victor froze, Chris’s delighted voice ringing in his horrified ears. His blood ran cold, hand jolting out to the phone instinctively to cover the speakers like Yakov might  _ still _ listening to the through the mute.

Yuuri just blinked at Victor from the doorway, cheeks pink and eyes adorably round. Victor felt his heart drop into his stomach.

“Um, hi,” Yuuri said, fluttering his fingers awkwardly. “I just wanted to check if you needed anything? You didn’t, um, reply…”

Victor could practically feel Chris’s shit-eating grin bearing into the side of his face, both loathing and loving the accountant in that moment. It had earned him the most awkward, embarrassing IM chat of his life that hadn’t even been long enough to make it onto a second page … but he got to see Yuuri.

“No,” Victor finally forced out, cutting through his traitorous thoughts, tone careful and clipped. “Everything’s fine.”

The sparkle in Yuuri’s eyes dulled. “Oh…”

Victor’s heart skipped a guilty beat.

“Sorry,” he added as an afterthought, flashing a smile that he could feel didn’t ring quite true on his face. He tweaked it, aiming for something more apologetic if he was too flustered to manage charming. No, that felt wrong too… “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

Yuuri just pulled up a small smile back before his eyes dipped down, backing out the office and pulling the door shut with him without another word.

Victor waited until Yuuri was out of sight – disappearing back across the office – before he scrunched a page up from his notebook and launched it at Christophe, scowl already bitter on his face.

“Hey!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who's back B) back again B)
> 
> Long time no see, guys. I am back and I have brought an abundance of little chapters for you which I'll spin out every few days or so. Hope you enjoy! 
> 
> Thanks for your patience while I was away!


	7. VAT

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *swearing

Yuuri stared down at the invoices in his hands, feeling the blood drain from his face. “Oh no…”

He heard typing behind him, a chill running down his spine.  _ Victor.  _ The director was sitting in the desk behind Yuuri’s today for some reason, occupying Celestino’s desk while he himself worked from home that day. So far, everything had been relatively incident free considering Victor’s proximity.

That was about to change.

“Victor,” Yuuri called over his shoulder. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Victor’s silver hair pop up over the desk divider. “We’ve got a problem.”

The Director’s brow dipped in a heartbeat, eyes blinking sharp into focus. They didn’t leave Yuuri for a second as the clerk pushed up nervously from his desk, invoices in hand. Yuuri didn’t have the nerve to meet them, keeping his gaze low, analysing the fluttering laces of his shoes. He knew how badly this was going to go down, how quickly that curiosity would snap into something a lot more dangerous…

“These orders were processed through Central Warehouse in the Netherlands,” Yuuri started, handing over the papers. “But the VAT number on the invoice is the Slovenian one.”

Victor’s eyes scoured over the page, lips pursing tight. For a moment, he didn’t say anything. Then-

“Oh, for fuck’s sake…”

Victor’s hand reached up beneath his silver bangs and rubbed over his eyes, head dropping forward and a heavy sigh forcing itself from his lungs. His shoulders were stiff, eyes pinched shut beneath his fingers.

“I thought they had fixed this last month?”

Yuuri swallowed hard.

“They had,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “I checked.”

“So it’s reverted? Brilliant….”

Yuuri didn’t dare move. He just stood stock still and silent, wishing he could sink away into the floor and disappear – anything to keep from drawing attention to himself, from tempting Victor’s wrath…

The paper’s slapped down on Victor’s keyboard.

Yuuri jumped out of his skin.

“This fucking IT department …” Victor hissed through his teeth, voice low and deadly. He glanced up, eyes like wildfire – it took everything in Yuuri not to take a step back, forcing himself to hold his ground. “Do they realise how much trouble we could get in for this? If an auditor came in, we’d be fucked.”

Yuuri’s hands curled and uncurled at his sides, swallowing the thick lump in his throat. He didn’t know what to say.

Victor was right.

He couldn’t do anything but watch the tension boil under the director’s shoulders, knowing the temper that lurked behind that dangerously crisp eye. He’d seen it before – the last time the IT department had screwed up on the same issue. It was the only time he’d ever seen Victor angry. He wasn’t in a hurry to see it again. 

Hands raked through silver hair, combing the strands back from his face. He looked furious, mouth drawn in a thin line and eyes molten crystal under the low sweep over his eyelashes.

“Can you check the others please, Yuuri? I doubt the problem is isolated.”

Yuuri didn’t dare say anything.

He just nodded and slipped away fast, head down and nerves on edge. Even when he was safely back in his seat, he couldn’t relax, acutely aware of the rage bubbling away at the desk behind him.

Yuuri scoured through every kind of invoice they had, everything he’d raised in the last few days. He checked his internal invoicing, his standard invoicing, his third party invoices, his return credits – everything. Everything imaginable, Yuuri checked within an inch of his life, checking, then double checking, then triple checking; until he had the VAT numbers all but memorised from the amount of times he’d checked it number by number against the official government registration document.

It was all fine. By some miracle, every other kind of invoice was fine except for the one in Victor’s hand behind him.

He went over to Victor’s desk to give him the good news.

The Director had his mobile pressed to his ear, expression grave and eyes dark. Yuuri’s steps stuttered.

Victor straightened up in his chair when he saw him, eyes flashing with something soft that cut through the blaze. It was only there for a minute – just long enough for Victor to jerk his head, motioning for Yuuri to come closer. Yuuri did with tentative steps, knuckles white around the invoices he held. Victor just held up his index finger when he got to his deskside, mouth moving around silent words –  _ one minute. _

“No, it’s unacceptable, Celestino,” he said into the phone, turning back to the laptop, voice sharp and intimidating. “If the order comes from the Netherlands, it needs the Netherlands VAT number, if it comes from Slovenia, it needs the Slovenia VAT number. It’s not a difficult concept. Get JJ on the phone, and get him to fix it  _ now. _ ”

He ended the call with a deliberate click, glaring at it for half a beat before he set it down on the desk. He looked slightly better.

His eyes lifted to Yuuri.

“Um,” Yuuri’s tongue caught, words dying in his mouth. He held out the invoices awkwardly, arm bolt straight. “T-the rest are fine.”

He wasn’t sure what he expected. A curt nod maybe, or a flicker of cold eyes – maybe nothing at all, just an outstretched hand waiting to be handed the invoices for confirmation. Yuuri couldn’t tell. Victor was unpredictable in this mood.

The last thing he expected though was a  _ smile _ .

“Thank you, Yuuri,” Victor smiled, stiff and tense – and a flicker apologetic. His eyes gave a hint of the light-hearted sparkle Yuuri used to know. “At least I can count on someone in this place.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Director was not happy...


	8. Team Meeting

_ Play it cool, play it cool, play it cool… _

The mantra rolled over and over again in Victor’s mind as a particular dark haired AP/AR clerk he most definitely had not been watching out of the corner of his eye for the last three hours stepped into the meeting room, notebook clutched to his chest and dusting of pink over his round cheeks.

The humiliation from their last encounter was still painfully fresh in the Director’s mind, the anger he’d felt and the almost frightened look in Yuuri’s eye still fresh in his mind. A man like him didn’t forget. He had to do better.

He leaned back against the wall, arms folded loosely over his chest and one ankle crossed casually over the other, jacket abandoned at his desk to leave him in just his shirt and sharp waistcoat. Victor always liked the way he looked in a waistcoat, confident in the slim curve it lent his torso. Hopefully Yuuri would notice too…

Or not.

Yuuri had his head down at the table, fast scribbling something in the corner of his notebook in characters that looked suspiciously un-English. Victor didn’t bother leaning for a closer look; he wouldn’t be able to read it anyway.

He just kept his expression stony, tapping a finger over his laptop keyboard and firing the projector on the wall to life. Green lined spreadsheet cells filled the once bland grey wall.

“Okay,” he sighed, tilting his head so his silver bangs fell out of his eyes. “Monthend…”

He hadn’t called one of these meetings in months. They weren’t exactly essential; just team meetings to present what each department was up to, their goals, progresses, anything the rest of the troops needed to know about … but three hours earlier they had suddenly been the most important meetings in the world, when Victor had stepped back into the office from his conference call with Sweden and overheard Yuuri on the phone to some guy in Treasury like Victor had never heard him. His voice had been firm. Strong.  _ Demanding,  _ almost - giving clear cut instructions to the poor man on the other end of the phone line about some mistake they’d made in one of Yuuri’s ledgers. Victor swore his heart had stopped, nearly dropping his laptop in the middle of the office in sheer awe. He had to hear that again. That passion and drive, crisp and efficient… and a meeting to discuss the last monthend with the team had been the fastest way for him to get it.

Victor grimaced as his spreadsheet filled the wall and his Financial Planning Manager, Georgi Popovich, set about prattling on about their above usual sales figures.

Honestly, it was embarrassing. Normally his work was clean, crisp, and accounted for right down to the last five cents … but this latest file was filled with memos and notes-to-self to carry out later, simply lacking time to fix the whole sales spreadsheet before the meeting had started. A handful of hours’ notice was not enough. It was his own fault.

Victor fought the urge to run his fingers over his eyes and sigh in shame, acutely aware that every move he made was watched subtly out of the corner of every eye in the room – including Yuuri’s.

And he  _ had  _ to look good for Yuuri.

He watched the clerk from the edge of his vision, only half paying attention to whatever it was his Financial Accountant was saying about their transit account.

Yuuri’s eyes were low, trailing his pen over the page in his notebook in a way that wasn’t sharp enough to be writing but wasn’t lazy enough to be doodles, lines short and straight.

Victor was curious…

He clapped loudly when Georgi was finished.

“Monthend,” Victor said, trying not to grin at the way Yuuri jumped in his seat. “Not bad, could have been smoother - Yurio, I’m looking at you.”

“Me?! What did I do?”

“The 2448 account.” Victor kept his eyes on the spreadsheet. “You so much as think about that poor clearing account and it all but bursts into flames. What’s the latest difference, Otabek?”

“Three thousand odd.”

“Three thousand odd…” Victor curled his fingers under his chin, spotting something on the spreadsheet he made a mental note to check up on later. “What should it be again, Yurio?”

_ Zero… _

A mumbled response was all he got.

“That file should match the general ledger  _ exactly  _ and Otabek cannot bail you out every time you can’t get it to match. You need to be able to reconcile that account.”

He turned a deaf ear to the excuses – and mild obscenities – spat at him from across the room, not even looking at the fiery tempered accounts payable clerk glaring daggers at him. Yurio was the grandson of a friend, of a friend, of a friend of Yakov’s, and Yakov’s word held enough influence to get him the job no problem. It didn’t mean the job was always done right though…

Victor tuned out again. Until -

“Yuuri,” he asked over Yurio’s filth, trying not to smirk when Yuuri jumped in his chair. “Debtors?”

Red grazed over the clerk’s cheeks – utterly adorably. “Um,” he mumbled, turning a page in his notebook. “Well, China paid on time. India said they would be making a payment this week but I’ve not heard anything yet. I-I’ll chase them up today.”

“What about Russia?” Victor asked, eyeing the balance in the overdue column projected on the wall. “My fellow countrymen not honouring their debts?”

“Russia’s in the middle of getting a loan from their parent company. It should be finalised by the end of the month and they said that once they have the money, they’ll clear their account completely.”

Victor nodded, more to himself than anything.

“Okay, good,” he said, satisfied. He glanced down, catching Yuuri’s eye over the clerk’s shoulder. He shot the boy a smooth wink. “Nice job, Yuuri. Well done.”

Yuuri’s cheeks glowed rosy pink.

Victor just smiled to himself, tuning out again as the next team member reported their updates and Yuuri went back to scribbling in his book – a little harder than before and a lot more red cheeked. He needed to call more of these meetings.


	9. Work Husband

Victor’s first thought when he saw the card on his keyboard one morning was curiosity. Then – when he saw it was a ‘congratulations on your wedding’ card – joy. Then, when he opened it and saw ‘ _To Yuuri’_ scrawled at the top, horror.

His smile dropped off his face in a heartbeat.

_Yuuri …_

His eyes flickered over to the clerk’s empty desk across the office – he’d been away for the last week, visiting his hometown in Japan if Victor remembered rightly. He should be back in a few days…

Victor tried to ignore the stab of hurt that went through him, swallowing the lump in his throat and grazing his eyes over the other messages people had written. Normally, he was good at card messages. Flirty and fun, cheeky and playful… this time, he couldn’t bear to write anything more than ‘ _congratulations’_ for the shards of his broken heart rattling in his chest. He hadn’t even known Yuuri had a partner, let alone was getting married – hell, he hadn’t even known Yuuri was _straight!_ Gay marriage wasn’t legal in Japan – Victor realised with groan of deep embarrassment – he had to be marrying a _woman_. The thought only stung deeper.

All this time he’d been flirting shamelessly with Yuuri and all the time Yuuri didn’t even go for dick…

He scribbled in the card and chucked it back on Phichit’s desk as per the post-it note stuck to the back of the envelope as quickly as possible. Victor sat with his chin in his palm and a pout on his face for the rest of the day.

 

* * *

 

Victor didn’t dare look up when he heard a chair rattle in the direction of Yuuri’s desk a few days later, forcing his eyes to stay on his laptop. He shouldn’t torture himself, tempt himself, because Yuuri was a married man now, and-

Yuuri laughed loudly.

“Oh my God,” he chuckled from across the office. “Whose idea was this?”

Victor just kept his head down, heart sinking lower and lower at the sound of Yuuri’s happy voice. Happy. Happily married. Happily married to someone who wasn’t Victor…

“So …” Phichit’s voice rolled from across the office, light and teasing. “How was the wedding? Where’s your wife?”

Yuuri just barked a laugh. “In your imagination.”

Victor frowned at his laptop – _what_?

“You mean your parents didn’t call you back home to marry you off to a nice Japanese girl before some Westerner stole you away?”

“You know they’re not like that … and a ‘nice Japanese _girl’_ wouldn’t really be my type...”

Victor’s ears _really_ pricked at that.

So… Yuuri _hadn’t_ gotten married? Pieces of information floated around Victor’s head as he listened into the conversation across the office, but it took another few minutes for them to click together, to make sense.

“Good job, Phichit,” someone said, Victor not recognising who they were by their voice. “Funniest thing I’ve seen in ages. Great joke!”

“You even got the people in Sales to sign it!”

Victor’s eyes blinked wide.

Yuuri wasn’t married. The card wasn’t real. Yuuri was never going to get married. It was all a prank… Victor was over at the clerk’s deskside in a shot, leaning coolly on the desk divider.

Yuuri blinked up at him curiously, russet brown orbs just as deep and adorable as Victor remembered behind dark bangs that had grown out ever so slightly since Victor had last seen him. It was all he could do to keep himself from swooning, clinging to the cracks of his suave composure.

“So…” he swept his own silver bangs smoothly out of his eyes. “When do we meet the missus?”

Yuuri’s eyes flashed wide.

“Oh God!” his hands slapped over his reddening face, grin teasing between his fingers. “Not you too ...”

“So much for being married to the job, like I thought you were….”

Victor turned just a fraction of a second before his cool smirk cracked into a full blown beam, relishing the stabs of beetroot creeping into Yuuri’s cool complexion and the way his eyes blew rounder. He heard the clerk gasp behind him, taking just one- two steps before he heard Yuuri scrabble to his feet behind him.

“Hey, I am! Victor, I-”

Victor span on his toes, sparkling eye already poised in place. “Then I suggest you make it up to your work husband,” he winked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on a joke someone played on my colleague. Not sure who started it, but someone joked that his parents were sending him back home to Sri Lanka to marry him off to a nice Sri Lankan girl (instead of just visiting family like he actually was). It got HUGE! The whole floor joined in, organised a card and confetti and … now apparently, Harry has a secret wife back in Sri Lanka. He was a good sport. He still has the card.


	10. Office Dog

A Skype message pinged up on Yuuri’s computer screen in the middle of sorting out his excel formulas, distracting him in the best way.

_ Victor: Yuuri, I need your help with something. Could you pop over? _

_ Victor: Bring your laptop. _

Yuuri just frowned at the screen, confused.  _ Okay…  _ he thought warily, popping his laptop out of connection with the monitor before he stood up from his desk.

“Where are you going?” Phichit asked as he passed.

“Victor wants me.”

He ignore the snigger behind him as he crossed the office, eyes on Victor’s shining silver hair glinting in the lights across the office. The Director looked up as he got close, face lighting up gloriously.

“Yuuri!”

A heart shaped smile beamed at him, spilling something warm inside his chest. Victor looked unfairly pretty when he smiled like that…

“Um,” Yuuri tweaked a small smile of his own, setting the laptop down on the empty desk beside Victor’s. “Hi?”

“I need your help.” Victor leaned over at the waist, his long eyelashes fluttering and eyes glittering round and bright - Yuuri felt his heart stutter, breath catching. “Can you keep a secret?”

Yuuri’s eyebrows dipped. “Yes…”

Victor hadn’t moved from his seat. His chair had stayed absolutely glued to his desk until that moment when he slipped it back just a fraction, teeth snagging his lower lip and gaze following under the edge of the desk. Yuuri looked too – and slapped his hands over his mouth to hide the excitable squeak bubbling on his lips.

A ball of brown fluff was curled up at Victor’s feet, the poofiest poodle Yuuri had ever seen sleeping happily under the desk in a navy dog bed that was only just big enough.

Yuuri’s eyes watered, whine slipping through his lips – oh God, it was the cutest dog Yuuri had ever seen!

Victor shushed him with a chuckle – but he didn’t bother to hide his grin, all but beaming at Yuuri’s reaction.

“My dog sitter bailed on me,” the director explained, mouth tugging down in the corners and eyes blinking even rounder and – if it was possible – even more adorable. “I don’t like just leaving her at home on her own. I had to smuggle her in at lunch.”

Yuuri couldn’t stop looking under the desk, eyes glued to the sleeping ball of fur. He was grinning so hard his cheeks hurt.

“Why didn’t you just take the afternoon off?” he asked from behind his fingers.

Victor just groaned, rolling his eyes to his laptop. “I have a Skype meeting with Yakov that I just can’t miss. He would actually fly here from St Petersburg to kill me himself if I did.”

“Oh.”

“I can’t leave her here on her own,” Victor insisted. “Would you just … sit here until the meeting is over?”

Warning bells rang in Yuuri’s head in a heartbeat. “Um-”

“Please?” Victor blurted before Yuuri could protest, batting those pretty silver eyelashes at him and all but melting Yuuri into a puddle at his feet. “She’s really good, I promise. She won’t make a sound or need anything. Just the minute I move, she will just follow me and Yakov would absolutely murder me if he saw her...”

Yuuri bit his lip, eyes rolling to the ceiling. He knew he should say no. It was against the rules and if Yakov would get Victor in trouble then it would  _ definitely  _ get Yuuri in trouble.

His eyes fell back to Victor.

Big, round puppy dog eyes were waiting for him, lip pushed out in the slightest of pouts. Somehow it suited Victor…

Yuuri knew he’d already made his mind up, sighing. He nodded.

Victor bounced to his feet in a heartbeat, heart shaped smile bright on his lips. “Thank you, Yuuri!” he beamed, touching a hand to the clerk’s shoulder. Yuuri blushed hard at the contact. Victor just smiled, fingers squeezing through Yuuri’s shirt. “I owe you.”

 

* * *

Yuuri didn’t get any work done. His spreadsheet sat untouched and unchanged on his laptop, mouse moving over the cells but not clicking into anything as a warm tongue lapped at the fingers resting over his thigh, giggling at the rough, wet licks and sighing happily at the warmth of the dog sitting over his shoes. It was like a mini-heater. Yuuri could have sat there forever with Makkachin licking his hand, and rubbing her nose against his knee, and leaning her body heat into his shins…

_ Phichit: What are you still doing there? _

_ Phichit: Has Victor moved your desk? _

Yuuri ignored the messages popping up on his screen, hearing Phichit’s chair squeak as he stood up across the office and craned his neck to see what Yuuri was doing. He could feel his best friend’s eyes on him – he knew what he was doing.

The time passed ridiculously fast and just shy of two hours later, Victor all but bounded back across the office from one of the meeting rooms, broad smile on his face.

“How’s my darling?” he asked before he’d even stopped walking, dumping his laptop on the desk beside his and sliding into the empty chair. His eyes shone at Yuuri, fitting his chin into his propped up palm. He was already smiling, looking younger than Yuuri had ever seen him even with the corners his eyes crinkled and laughter lines denting around his mouth. “Was she good?”

Yuuri couldn’t help but smile back, sliding his chair back just enough for Makkachin to poke her head out between his legs, tongue lolling happily to see her master.

Victor dove forward in a heartbeat, long slender fingers disappearing into the curls at the top of the poodle’s head.

“An angel.” Yuuri just giggled. “Next time your dog sitter lets you down … call me?”

Victor blinked up – face an inch away from Yuuri’s knees – smile slapped off his face in surprise and pink blushing over his cheeks. Until then, he’d only dreamed of hearing those words.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!
> 
> So if you have any ideas you'd like to see or have some cute little office head canons you want included, let me know (because not much actually happens in my office and I'm gonna run out of material eventually)...
> 
> Let me know in the comments or drop me a message on [Tumblr](https://justrae2010.tumblr.com/). I don't bite. I'm actually quite nice. ( I just have no idea how to speak to other humans)
> 
> Ta!


	11. Copier

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Brave_Soul_And_Heart for their 'Someone jams the copier, Yuuri isn’t happy, Victor tries to fix it and bam! Ink everywhere' idea  
> Thank you (this was really fun to write)! ^-^

“Dammit…”

Victor had just been walking. Honestly, he had. For once, he had honestly just been walking innocently across the office with his head clear and eyes straight - instead of tweaking for a certain favourite member of his team - when he heard the hissed curse, voice cutting through his peace unmistakable.

But to hear it _curse_ had Victor backtracking in a heartbeat, eyebrows quirked in surprise. “ _Yuuri_?”

The clerk was leaned over the copier with his eyebrows furrowed and mouth pouting ever so slightly, tiniest flush gracing over his cheeks. His eyes looked annoyed, knuckles white as they gripped the edge of the printer, straightening up.

“You okay?”

Victor didn’t mind language. Hell, he swore. Yurio swore enough for the whole company, but to hear sweet little Yuuri mutter something…

Victor’s eyes raked up and down the clerk, curious. “What’s wrong?”

Yuuri just sighed, blinking up at the ceiling behind his glasses. “Someone botched the copier and just-” his fingers rubbed at his temples, spare hand propping itself on his hip. It made Victor’s mouth go dry, desperately forcing his eyes back to Yuuri’s face instead of following the length of his arm. “-left it! Nothing’s coming out. And I’ve got a load of invoices I need to print out for the payment run-”

“Okay, okay,” Victor interrupted calmly, stepping closer and turning his attention to the copier. The message on the screen said _‘jam’_ \- but in Russian. No wonder Yuuri didn’t understand. “Yurio must have been fiddling with the language setting again...”

_He should just call facilities_ , Victor thought to himself first. Or IT. Or anyone who knew anything about technology or was good with their hands…

Victor didn’t fit in any of those categories.

But Yuuri was upset and watching the pretty little clerk huff in irritation and push his glasses further up his nose, Victor felt a light bulb go off in the back of his head. “Let’s have a look...”

He was shrugging his waistcoat off before he knew it, rolling up the sleeves of his expensive white shirt up his forearms, and banking away points in his head when he caught Yuuri’s blush darken and his Adam’s apple bob with a gulp. If he could fix it, he could make Yuuri happy. He could be Yuuri’s hero. It was a brilliant plan, foolproof and perfect… if only he knew how copiers worked.

He popped the panel on the side open - having no idea if that was the right place to poke - and thanking God above when a sight of mangled white paper and smudged black ink met him.

_Bingo_.

He reached in carefully, tongue darting out to wet his lips in concentration as he pinched the edge of the paper between his thumb and forefinger. How hard could it be?

As it turned out - _hard_.

“It’s gonna rip.” Yuuri warned.

“It’s not.”

Victor could feel the paper straining as he pulled, careful enough to grind some of the machinery inside, inching it free, but firm enough to feel the material start to give. If he pulled harder, Yuuri would be right. It would just tear. He kept up his firm pressure, just enough to wedge it free eventually… he hoped…

Yuuri leaned in beside him, squinting behind his glasses. “Is it caught on something?”

“Hold on, I’ve almost got it.”

“Wait, Victor, is that the ink cartrid-”

Yuuri didn’t get a chance to finish.

The paper popped free, Victor stumbled back … and the ink cartridge inside the printer exploded.

The world went black.

Victor jerked his head away just in time to protect his eyes but it wasn’t enough to save his shirt, feeling the once pristine white material splatter with mess and more sink down his wrist from the sodden mess of paper he clutched in his hand. _Ruined._ Absolutely ruined. His jaw felt wet, ink splattering up his cheek and starting to ooze down the collar of his shirt, making him shiver at the sensation.

His head turned slowly - noticing the tips of his hair had been blackened in the onslaught too - round to Yuuri.

The clerk’s face was black.

He’d been closer than Victor had -  getting a full facefull of the ink that left his glasses lens impenetrable and a few dark droplets on his grimacing tongue as his mouth dropped open in horror. Victor couldn’t blame him, wincing at how _awful_ that must taste. And it was all Victor’s fault…

Yuuri reached up slowly, carefully unhooking his glasses from his face. His eyes sat in square white gaps in his otherwise dark face, skin underneath protected from the attack.

“Fuck…” Yuuri said, eyes wide with shock.

Victor just nodded, dazed.

“Fuck,” he agreed.


	12. Snacks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two updates in one day! Aren't you lucky!
> 
> (or I'm just panic writing to relax in preparation for my exam tomorrow xD Wish me luck! )
> 
> For JaMills :  
> "And while we're still on suggestions, how about Victor fuming because someone took his beloved pudding in the office's fridge but it was actually Yuuri who mistook it for his own snack?"

Victor stared wide eyed into the fridge, knuckles white around the door. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing - or more specifically, what he _wasn’t_ seeing _._

“The bastards…”

His yoghurt was gone.

He’d heard of food going missing before but he’d never dreamed it would really happen to _him._ I mean, who would do that? Who would pinch someone else's food from the fridge that they blatantly knew wasn’t theirs? It was theft, straight up theft.

Victor was furious, gritting his teeth hard to avoid slamming the fridge door shut in frustration.

He’d been looking forward to that yoghurt for hours. It was supposed to have been his reward once he’d finished reconciling the balance sheet - the most tedious task in the world, in his opinion - but now it was gone, and he had nothing. He’d even drawn a line in tip-ex over the pot cover so he would know which one was his - not that there was an abundance of yoghurts in the fridge to differentiate it from, lonesome on the fridge tray save for a tupperware box wrapped in a plastic bag! It only made the betrayal worse, made it deliberate.

The fridge rattled when Victor all but rammed it shut, stalking out of the cafeteria with a face like thunder. Irritated and hungry - it made for a bad combination for Victor Nikiforov.

He was already deciding what to go and yell at IT for this time to vent some of his frustration, sure they deserved it for something when -

He froze by Yuuri’s desk, blood running cold.

“W-where did you get that?”

Yuuri sat at his desk - computer locked - with a very familiar little green pot with unmistakable honey and granola yoghurt with vanilla flakes in his hand, spoon pressed between his pink lips. Victor’s eyes glanced down into the trash can before he could help it. He found the foil lid - and the traitorous line of tip-ex.

His heart dropped into his stomach in horror, feeling the colour drain from his face. Anyone else, he would have understood. JJ - he was too arrogant to notice what was his and what wasn’t. Christophe - probably thought it was funny. Yurio - deliberately to piss Victor off. Phichit, even - a simple mistake!

But _Yuuri_ , of all people…

The clerk paused, innocent brown eyes blinking up at Victor like he hadn’t just stabbed the director in the heart, waving his betrayal right in Victor’s face.

He swallowed his mouthful of yoghurt thickly.

 _Guiltily?_ Victor wondered silently to himself.

Slowly, Yuuri followed Victor’s line of sight down to the yoghurt in his hand, frowning for a moment. Then-

“Oh my God!”

The spoon hit the desk with a clatter.

Yuuri’s eyes shot wide as he put the yoghurt down on the desk like it burned to the touch, eyes blown wide with horror and stumbling to his feet.

“I’m so sorry!” he blurted, looking frantically between Victor and the yoghurt, hand reaching up to rake through his hair in distress. “I thought it was mine. I’ve just changed brand and I guess I didn’t pay enough attention to the packaging. They’re both green, so I just thought…” His hands slapped over his mouth, sucking in fast, barely controlled breaths through his fingers. “I’m so sorry! Please forgive me.”

Victor’s eyes bolted wide in surprise, only just not jolting back in shock. Of all the reactions he might have expected, this definitely wasn’t one of them.

Guilt swirled thick and heavy in his gut, not quite sure what to do. Victor wasn’t used to this. He wasn’t good with people like this.

“Um,” his hand flinched as it reached out and touched Yuuri’s shoulder, not sure if he was making the right move. Comforting or space-invading? Victor felt too awkward for it to be comforting surely… “It’s okay,” he said gently. “It’s just a yoghurt.”

He really wasn't quite  _that_ bothered...

He squeezed Yuuri’s shoulder, relieved when a slightly longer breath sighed through Yuuri’s fingers and the clerk’s high shoulders dropped a fraction. His eyes widened above his fingertips, bright and glistening. Victor prayed to whatever gods there were that Yuuri wouldn’t start crying…

Yuuri’s hands slipped away from his face. Victor didn’t miss the way Yuuri’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he gulped.

It drew his attention to something else that caught his eye.

Victor smirked at the little smudge of yoghurt at the corner of Yuuri’s mouth, grinning at the little streak of gold honey through the cream on Yuuri’s skin. He didn’t pause to think - he reached up from Yuuri’s shoulder, wiping away the blemish carefully with the pad of this thumb.

He stuck it in his mouth leisurely - on show - holding Yuuri’s eye and swirling his tongue around the digit, heart singing at the flush darkening on Yuuri’s cheeks. “ _Vkusno_.”

 

* * *

 

Victor found Yuuri’s yoghurt in the back of the fridge half an hour later, hidden behind the tupperware box. He didn’t mind helping himself…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: this happens all the time in my office and omg, I just had to write it. Only it's not an accident at my place, people will just straight up nick your food. It’s so bad. Apparently one of our contracters was heating her lunch in the microwave, went to her desk to bring her water bottle into the kitchen to refill while she waited, but when she got back to the kitchen someone had straight up nicked her lunch right out of the microwave. Like, who does that?! Someone I work with apparently…
> 
> (my food is straight up LOCKED in my cabinet and I hide the key when I go home. No one is getting my Kettlechips under pain of death).


	13. Telephone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ( for those who asked about my exam - THANK YOU!! I totally passed ^-^ YAY!!)

“Yuuri, how do I transfer a call to IT?”

Yuuri didn’t even look away from his computer at Phichit’s question, didn’t even stop typing. He never even paused.

“What’s their extension?” he asked back effortlessly.

“I don’t know.”

“Just send them through to the switchboard then. They can put them through.”

“Okay… how do I do that?”

Yuuri sighed, fingers pausing over the keys of his keyboard, halting their tapping. He rolled his eyes over to his best friend – Phichit held the phone receiver away from his face, stuck out to mid-air and expression blank, waiting on Yuuri.

It wasn’t what Yuuri needed right now. He was having a bad day. He turned back to his laptop, hand moving to his mouse. “Press transfer.”

“There is no transfer.”

“Is the call on hold?”

“Er…”

Yuuri sighed again, clinging to the thin strings of his patience. He really didn’t have time for this… “Take it off hold.”

“Do I have to say anything?”

“You don’t have to.”

They didn’t get calls often – but when they did, they were almost always a wrong number, calling through looking for a different division or department. Honestly, Yuuri was getting kind of tired of it. They almost never knew the forwarding number. Sending the call through to the switchboard was their best bet at getting the caller through to their right target, but it was still a waste of their time…

Buttons clicked from Phichit’s side of the desk, softer than a keyboard. Half a beat later-

“Yuuri-”

Yuuri slid his chair over the floor before Phichit could even finish saying his name, bumping his best friend out of the way. The phone cable stretched across him, still connected to Phichit’s hand. Yuuri didn’t need that though – he just leaned over the desk to the phone set’s display screen and with one, two clicks, the call transferred.

He leaned back when he heard the familiar beep of an empty line running dull through the phone in Phichit’s hand. The call had gone.

It was done.

He flashed Phichit a smile as he pushed his chair back to his own desk, cheeks stiff under the movement from scowling all day. It felt good. Helping someone always lifted his mood somehow.

Phichit grinned back, setting his phone back in its set. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Yuuri stretched his smile wider. He already felt in a better mood for it, voice light instead of the grouchy monotone it had been before. “I’m used to it.”

As if on cue, Yuuri’s phone rang.

Lights flashed red with the alert of an incoming call and the irritating bleep cut through the office, but it wasn’t as irritating as it would have been a few minutes ago.  _ Typical, _ Yuuri just thought to himself, leaning forward with a small smile still on his lips. Just his luck.

He picked after the second ring, slotting the phone between his ear and shoulder. “Hello,” he said cheerily. “Accounts receivable.”

“Hi  _ Yuuri _ .”

Yuuri choked on air as Victor purred down the phone line with his unmistakable silky smooth voice, bolting up straight in his chair and sending papers flying in his fumbling.

“O-oh…” Yuuri stumbled, ignoring the giggle to his left and the heat on his face. He glanced across the office – Victor’s desk was empty. “Hi.”

“How are you?”

Yuuri glanced down at the screen of the phone set. The call was coming from a meeting room… “I’m fine, thanks,” he said back, words slipping from his mouth on autopilot. “You?”

“Yeah, just struggling with this VAT file,” Victor sighed heavily. Yuuri could just imagine him pouting, sitting his chin in his palm with boredom… “Could you please send Yurio to Livingstone, please? We need a word.”

Yuuri glanced up over the desk divider, to Yurio’s desk. Between the monitors, the blonde clerk caught his eye.

“Okay, sure.”

He could hear Victor’s smile. “Thanks, Yuuri.”

Yuuri was grinning softly to himself as he clicked the phone back in its set, heart thumping just a little faster than it had been a few minutes ago.

“Yurio,” he said over the desk divider. “Victor wants you in Livingstone.”

Yurio just ‘ _ tsk _ ’ed, eyes narrowing.

“Why didn’t he just call me?! I’ve got a phone!”

Yuuri shrugged.

“He wanted to hear Yuuri’s voice,” Phichit chuckled.

Yuuri scrunched up the nearest piece of scrap paper he had and tossed it over at his best friend, cheeks glowing and smile still teasing at his lips. He liked to think Phichit was right…


	14. Blonde Moments

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For carlyrarnold:  
> "I don't work at an office but I do work at a coffee shop and sometimes people go to brew coffee and forget to put the pot underneath and it all brews right onto the floor. It makes a huge mess and the person who did it gets teased endlessly for the rest of the night."
> 
> Or the accounting equivalent I guess...
> 
> Otherwise known as Victor forgets how to account when Yuuri wears skinny jeans.
> 
> (please like it ಥ_ಥ )

Yuuri was in jeans.

It shouldn’t have bothered Victor as much as it did - it was casual Friday, after all! - but Yuuri was in _jeans_ , all tight fitting and figure hugging, moulding the curve of his hips and shapely thighs in a way that was just down right unfair…

Christophe chirped in his ear beside him, but Victor had long since tuned him out, eyes fixed across the office at the clerk leaning over the filing cabinets, bent at the waist with his sinful denim draped backside directly in Victor’s line of sight. It wasn’t his fault, he told himself, tongue darting out to wet his dry lips. He was just sitting there at his desk like a good worker, while Yuuri was strutting around the office like that. It totally wasn’t his fault…

Then the next thing Victor knew, Yuuri straightened up from the cabinet - paper in hand - and was making a beeline for Victor’s desk.

Victor jolted in his seat, blinking his eyes back into focus and running his hand over his mouth, praying to God he hadn’t been drooling. He had half a second to plaster his best smile on his face before Yuuri got there, approaching shyly from behind Christophe with eyes round and nervous.

“Um,” he said, swallowing thickly. “I’m sorry to interrupt but, um-”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Victor beamed, straightening his waist coat smartly over his torso. He was never much of a casual Friday kind of man. “It wasn’t anything important.”

He could feel Christophe’s levelling stare glaring into the side of his face. He chose to ignore it. “Victor, we were talking about the tax return to the governme-”

“Like I said,” Victor just cut off, holding Yuuri’s eye with a smile and wishing that Christophe’s chair was just that little bit closer so he could kick him in the shins to shut him up. “Nothing important. So how can I help?”

Yuuri’s eyes passed between Victor and Christophe. “Um…”

Victor swore if Christophe said anything, he would screw up his tax file to the best of his ability in revenge…

“Um, it’s just that France are trying to claim a discount on an order and say we need to issue them a credit, but I thought that offer expired last year. I was just, um, wondering if you knew anything about it, maybe?”

Victor’s frown dipped - half at Yuuri’s unexpected nervousness and half at the actual problem. He guessed he shouldn’t be too surprised - Chris was here, and Chris had always made Yuuri mildly uncomfortable ever since he’d grabbed his ass in the staff room that one time… as for France, he wasn’t aware of any discount.

His hand reached up, pinching the point of his chin between his thumb and forefinger in thought. Unfortunately, it also settled his line of sight _right_ at the narrow dip of Yuuri’s wasit...

His mind went blank. “Have we got a copy of the, um, the thing...”

Victor felt the humiliation coming. He didn’t stop though. “You know, the thing.” he clicked his fingers, the name just out of reach of his brain. “The thing on paper that they send us. With the items, and the currency, and the … the _Faktura_ thing…”

How could he remember the Polish word for it and not the English?

He felt Christophe smirk beside him.

Yuuri just gave him a crooked look. “You mean…” his eyebrow cocked up, weight shifting onto one leg. It jutted his hip to the side ever so slightly. Victor’s brain cells died a little more. “...the invoice?”

Victor’s throat went dry. “Yeah,” he said thickly. “That.”

Christophe just cackled beside him.

 

* * *

 

“Hey Victor, what’s that thing with all the money on it, and the items, and the currency? You know, the things that Yuuri prints off-”

“Shut up, Chris.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey Victor, what’s that thing that people give in exchange of goods, that thing that accountants manage? I think it comes in coins and notes. I just can’t put my finger on what it’s called-”

“Chris, shut up.”

 

* * *

 

“Hey Victor, what are those squiggly lines in that spreadsheet you sent me? They’re like letters but not. Something to do with counting. One’s a straight down line, ones an upright figure of eight, ones a downward squiggle...I think they’re important for maths-”

“Shut _up_ , Chris.”

 


	15. Journals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who don't know what a journal entry is, it's just posting transactions into the accounts. There must be a debit and a credit as in all double entry bookkeeping. For journals though, there is no source document (like an invoice, or cheque, or receipt, something the transaction can be tracked back to basically) so you fill out a journal entry sheet and manually write down which accounts to debit and credit, which acts as the source document. 
> 
> (irl, the boss just scribbles the accounts and amounts on whatever paper he happens to have nearest on him and leaves you to fill in the many pages of official paperwork for him)

“Can I have your autograph please?”

Victor’s lips teased into a smirk before he even looked up from his laptop, pen already clicking at the ready. His fingers reached instinctively for where Yuuri routinely slipped the pending documents on his desk for signing, feeling the familiar slip of paper beneath his fingertips.

He already knew what this document was – he’d sent the email to Yuuri asking him to raise it after all – but he still scanned over the page, diligent as ever. When he glanced up beyond the page though, pen poised over the signatory mark, his smile widened.

Yuuri had his hip leaned casually against the filing cabinet beside Victor’s desk, ankles delicately crossed and blue framed glasses slipping ever so slightly down his nose.

He looked even more adorable than usual.

“I’m starting to think you’re selling these on Ebay,” Victor mused playfully, finished his signature with a swirl.

Yuuri just laughed.

Victor could listen to that sound all day…

Normally, he would just hand the paper back. He would just let it go and Yuuri with it, flashing him his most charming smile as he went. Today though – when Yuuri pulled at the outstretched papers to take them back – Victor didn’t let go.

Yuuri blinked up, brow furrowing adorably.

“Now I’ve done something for you,” Victor just said, voice smooth and eyes sparkling. “I wonder if you’d be able to do a little something for m-”

“Anything!”

Victor blinked in surprise at the same time as Yuuri did, the clerk’s face flushing red and his Adam’s apple bobbing with his hard gulp. He hadn’t expected a response like that, not that quick, not that eager…

Victor just grinned wider.

“I want you to do my journal entries for me,” he said, turning round in his chair to face Yuuri and brace his elbows on his knees, lacing his fingers together over his lap.

Yuuri didn’t immediately say no…

Victor went out on a limb. “It’s boring work really – and not much. Just a few hours around monthend. I’ll give you all the paperwork, etcetera, and all you’ve got to do is post it for me.” When Yuuri still hadn’t moved – mouth still hanging open – Victor paused, letting his voice drop an octave and his eyelashes flutter, slow and deliberate. “Think you can do that for me, Yuuri? It would really help me out…”

He toyed with the idea of biting his lower lip for effect at that last note, but Yuuri already looked beet red, chest still like he was holding his breath. Victor didn’t want to fluster him any further.

Or maybe he wasn’t flustered at all.  Maybe he was wondering how he could say to no to a job that definitely wasn’t in his job description, nor that he was under any obligation to take up save for Victor just  _ asking _ , and he was simply too polite to just outright say no-

“Yes.”

 

* * *

 

“So just enter in the account and the amount as normal for the debit side.”

“And press back?”

“No, not for this function. Just put a minus sign before the amount to do the credit side. You don’t need to change screens for journals.”

It took everything in Victor not to bounce with excitement come monthend – something he never thought he’d say! But he’d also never imagined he’d be sat side by side with Yuuri, relishing every second it took to explain the journal process on the system and how their new arrangement was going to work. It was a dream come true watching the focus in those cinnamon hued eyes, the intensity in his face as he double checked all his numbers and added to his notes, listening to Victor’s every word…

Victor wished it would never end.

“The thing is,” he whispered twenty minutes in, leaning closer. “If you can do this, it opens up doors. It may be boring, but it will really help you in the long run here.”

Knowledge was power – Victor always believed that. And if he wanted Yuuri to stay working here, he had to give him a reason to. He knew it was Yuuri’s first job in finance – the experience was vital to the clerk. The more Victor taught him, the more experience he got, the faster his career would progress.

And the more experience he had, the more qualified he would be to take more jobs nudging him ever closer to working side by side with Victor on a permanent basis.

Victor smiled at the thought.

After a moment, he caught Yuuri staring – he hadn’t said anything for the last few minutes, he’d realised, Yuuri waiting for him…

He stood up from his chair, hand clapping down casually on Yuuri’s shoulder even though the contact sent Victor’s heart racing in his chest and shivers running down his spine. There was nothing more to teach. Victor had run out of things to stall with.

“If you ever can’t read my writing,” he said, smiling down at the round caramel eyes staring up at him. “Just let me know.”

 

* * *

 

Victor’s handwriting wasn’t bad. He knew for a fact it wasn’t…. but he’d be lying to himself if he said he made sure his handwriting wasn’t just a little bit sloppy when he gave his journal pages to Yuuri the next monthend. Not enough to be illegible – just enough to raise doubt over if it was an  _ a _ or an  _ e. _

And Yuuri seemed more than happy to double check with him.

“These balances don’t add up to that overall total. They’re three pence out.”

“Is this number a five or a three?”

“Sorry, Victor, just … what does this say?”

Victor grinned subtly to himself each time Yuuri saddled up to his desk – paper in hand – and question bubbling on his lips, more than happy to scribble just a little clearer on the page for his clerk and flash him a smile that brought pink rising to the ridge of Yuuri’s cheekbones. It was his new favourite bit of monthend.


	16. Renovations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Hextraordinary - "So, about office shenanigans, here at work they are going to renovate our bathroom late this year, and me and a coworker were joking about what would we do if we could choose some things (purple walls, LED on the mirrors, etc.) and I half joking said that I'm going to buy a calendar with sexy firemen and secretly put in the wall (Am I going to do this? Who knows, if I find one)."

Victor didn’t exactly loiter in the bathroom often. Honestly, most of his time in there actually consisted of double checking that his bangs were still falling in  _ just _ the right way he liked them, not too straight, not too wavy, swept back from his face with a graceful, timeless arch… and it was on one such occasion when Victor saw  _ it. _

Paper.

Bright red and hanging out from behind the mirror by barely half an inch - tiny until Victor noticed it, and he wondered how he hadn’t noticed it before! - was the corner of a thick piece of paper.

Frowning, Victor carefully thumbed it out, the rest of the page sliding free…

And grinned.

“Well,  _ damn…” _

 

* * *

 

“Have you seen the firemen in the bathroom yet?” Christophe asked of him one day, muting Yakov’s yelling on their monthly conference call and folding one leg over the other, sly grin on his face.

Gossip always won over Yakov.

Especially hot, calendar page, half naked fireman kind of gossip…

“Fire _ men?”  _ Victor asked, blinking. “As in there’s more than  _ one _ ?”

The one he’d found stashed behind the mirror had been hot and sweaty, staring at the camera with smouldering eyes and holding an axe with a  _ firm _ ,  _ expert _ grip…

Victor had thought it was a nice little secret.

But if there was more than one…

Christophe just smirked. “Which one did you find?”

“Mirror.”

“Ah… January,” he nodded, pinching his chin between his thumb and forefinger and smirking smugly. “I’d spend a little longer  _ drying your hands _ next time, if I were you…”

 

* * *

 

Victor was not disappointed, his low whistle echoing around the bathroom as he unfolded the page he’d found folded and tucked behind the hand dryer.

November was decidedly lacking in clothes, nothing but a large power hose choicely positioned to protect his modesty… not that there was anything modest in that wicked smirk he winked out at Victor, biceps bulging around holding onto his  _ equipment _ down low.

Victor bit his lip, and indulged.

 

* * *

 

“How did they get there?”

“Apparently one of the decorators did it when they finished the renovations.”

“That man deserves a raise.”

“Rumour is that Chulanont has found them all.”

“Oh my God...”

 

* * *

Victor was all but hanging over the edge of Phichit’s desk, whispering low and quiet, but urgent - he’d calculated that he had about three minutes left of Yuuri’s usual six minute average tea break before he came back to his desk and caught him in the seedy act.

“Come on, Phichit,” he all but begged, pride scattered to the wind by now. “You’ve got to help me.”

Phichit just smirked. “You know the deal, Nikiforov. Same rules as everybody else.”

“I’m your boss.”

“That just means I know you can afford the premium price.”

“It’s just a hint, come on!”

A sly look cast out of the corner of Phichit’s eye. Victor whipped his gaze over his shoulder to the doorway, praying that Yuuri would just keep stirring his tea for just another few minutes…

“Depends on how badly you want to see Mr. February now, isn’t it…”

A shock of jet black hair turned around the corner of the office and Victor swore under his breath. He was out of time. He had about thirty seconds until Yuuri was close enough to see they were up to something shifty.

Victor was torn, biting his lip. “Is he worth it?”

“ _ So _ worth it.”

Victor made a needy noise in the back of his throat. God, he was a weak man… “Okay - fine!”

Twenty dollars slapped into Phichit’s open palm, transaction smooth and swift, with Victor just about leaned in close enough to hear the clerk whisper ‘air freshener’ before he straightened up again, money already behind tucked in Phichit’s pocket by the time he was upright again.

When he was though, he froze. Realisation hit him like a freight train. “That’s nearly on the  _ fucking  _ ceiling-”

“What are you guys talking about?”

Victor nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Nothing, Yuuri!”

 

* * *

 

A week later, Victor was well aware that he was bordering on near obsession when he found himself hosting a meeting entitled ‘ _ EMERGENCY - JUNE _ !’ - the one firefighter calendar page he had yet to find.

“Come on, guys,” he said after two and a half hours of brainstorming - fruitlessly. “ _ Someone _ must know where he is.”

Obviously, Chulanont knew - but Victor wasn’t willing to part with any more of his hard earned money chasing a hot guy on a piece of paper. At least, not to Chulanont. No, Victor would find it on his own… and with the help of Yura, Christophe, Otabek, Leo, and JJ.

“Have you checked behind the photo frame?”

“ _ Tsk _ , who hasn’t checked the photo frame, you idi-”

“That was April anyway…”

“What does it look like?”

“Are you special?! If we knew what it looked like, we obviously wouldn’t still need to find the damned thing?!”

Victor ran a hand over his face. He was slowly losing the will to live, but he couldn’t decide which was worse - listening to the squabbling or forever knowing that Mr June was somewhere in that bathroom and Victor might never find him. He’d checked everywhere, found every other fireman - behind a loose tile, under the fake bottom of the wastebasket, inside the soap box that was always conveniently empty of soap, stuffed inside the hollow of the doorstop - but this one man was  _ just _ out of his grasp.

And with the bickering going on around it, the likelihood of finding him was growing ever and ever slimmer…

“We all know it's just a matter of time before some idiot smashes the loose tile by mistake and the gig’s up, so we have to find him  _ now.” _

“Why did you look at me when you said that?!”

Victor just pressed his eyes shut, groaning. It looked like Mr. June would remain a figment of his imagination forever…

A quiet knock on the door jolted the room into silence.

_ Busted. _

Victor didn’t think he could get more depressed … then he opened the door - and was instantly proven wrong.

Yuuri stared back at him, eyes a little more narrowed than usual behind his glasses and was it just Victor, or was he pouting a little too? Victor just sighed quietly to himself - he’d been caught.  _ Damn _ …

Yuuri jerked his hand out, small square of paper between his fingers.

“Message for you.”

Victor winced at his tone. The usually bubbly clerk sounded irritated.

It was only then that Victor realised he hadn’t spent any time with Yuuri – properly, not just ducking around his lame excuses and escape lines to hide his sordid fireman searching – in near enough two weeks. The realisation hit him like a freight train. He’d barely even spoken to him in that time.  _ Shit _ .

Guilt swirled deep in his gut, eyes falling from Yuuri’s face as he wondered if Mr June really was worth it if he distracted him so much from Yuuri-

Then Victor saw the  _ message _ on Yuuri’s paper _. _

_ ‘The power outage is fake.’ _

Victor barely held back his gasp.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Yuuri’s sly smirk – stood just enough outside the meeting room door that nobody else could see it – but Victor could. Yuuri knew. He knew where June was.

Victor only just remembered himself when he looked up, Yuuri’s gorgeous russet brown eyes sparkling with mischief. Victor could have kissed him…

… but the whole meeting room was still watching his back.

He took the paper slyly – letting his fingers conveniently brush over Yuuri’s and feeling the heat blush warm over his cheeks from the contact – tucking it into the pocket of his waistcoat.

“You’re welcome,” Yuuri winked as he turned on his heel.

Victor felt his insides melt.

 

* * *

 

Mr June was worth it.

Victor peeled back the fake power outage cover from the wall and slipped out that unmistakable fiery red paper of the calendar pattern, unfolding the page with excitement bubbling away inside him. It was such a subtle hiding place. He never would have thought of it on his own.

But Yuuri had, and Victor enjoyed lapping up every blessed naked inch of Mr June save for the barely concealing mini fire extinguisher over his groin. All hard muscle, glistening sweaty skin, and a smouldering expression that would have Victor pinned to the headboard in a heartbeat… Victor  _ really _ had to remember to thank Yuuri.


	17. Blonde Moments #2

Yuuri was going to have a good day. He could feel it. Good day, good vibe - slightly tired from staying up working from home until 9:45pm the night before, before even starting dinner and fixing his life - but he was ready to bust it out in the form of the best monthend ever. He was determined, walking into the office with a confidence to his stride he’d not sported for a long time. It was going to happen. Nothing was going to stop him toda-

He froze where he stood, eyes locked on his desk with a sinking heart.

“Oh shit…”

His desk was fine. Normal. Just as he’d left it the night before when he’d unplugged his work laptop from the system to take home, the empty docking station staring at him...

“Oh  _ shit…” _

Eyes turned - only Victor, Phichit and Yurio in the office so early thankfully, Yuuri arriving ahead of his shirt start by thirty minutes as he usually did. Now, he was glad, pulling back his sleeve to frantically check his watch. Did he have time to make it home? Maybe for one trip, but to come back as well...

“What did you forget?” Phichit asked from his desk, turning over his shoulder to frown at Yuuri  _ just stood there behind their desks, staring.  _

Yuuri knew how weird it looked.

He didn’t care.

Yurio’s sharp green eyes glanced up over his monitor. “What the hell have you done, Katsudon?”

Yuuri couldn’t say it. He couldn’t - it was so stupid, so humiliating - how could he possibly voice it out loud in front of his colleagues? But what was the alternative…

Across the office, Victor stood up, hand on his hip and sly smirk playing on his lips. A knowing glint sparkled playfully in his eye. “You’ve forgotten your laptop, haven’t you?”

Yuuri made a small noise in the back of his throat that he was not proud of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I totally didn't do this today... *coughs* *looks away* shut up
> 
> Yuuri was forced to rent an awful excuse of a spare laptop from IT that was so awful he drove home at lunch to fetch his one and made a quick detour to McDonalds on the way back for a pity chicken sandwich (it was delicious <3)
> 
> Sorry it's only a short update. Monthend. It's busy. I'll do better next week.
> 
> (Also, I will respond to my messages at some point, I promise)


	18. Office Lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For RetrophileApple - 'maybe yuuri will bring a bento for viktor sometimes??'

Yuuri had worked for Stammi Vicino for five months… and he’d never seen Victor eat anything. It struck him one day - eating lunch at his own desk while the rain poured outside and Phichit had gone on a half day - that he’d never seen the Director take a lunch break before. Never. And as Yuuri’s lunch hour ticked away, Victor stayed glued to his desk for the next three hours.

 

* * *

 

“Have you ever seen him eat anything?” Yuuri asked one day over lunch with Phichit and Yurio, curiosity getting the better of him. He knew for a fact that Victor was still at his desk - working.

And not eating.

Phichit shrugged. “No.”

“I know he’s got those stupid fucking yoghurts,” Yurio chipped in. “But I’ve never seen him actually eat them.”

Yuuri frowned, chopsticks pausing over his lunch. “And do you not think its weird?”

Most people ate lunch. He ate lunch. Phichit and Yurio ate lunch - often in the form of a takeaway pot of some sort. People heated up things in the cafeteria microwaves. They went down to the deli van. They went out to the local cafes. They ate at their desks. But Victor… never did anything... 

“Someone told me that his wife makes him food when he gets home and gets really angry if he’s not hungry, so he doesn’t eat during the day.”

Yuuri just stared at Phichit.

And Yurio snorted. 

“That’s ridiculous!” he laughed through a mouthful of his burger. “You must be stupider than I thought if you think Victor has a  _ wife _ !”

“What does he have then?”

Yurio’s eyes rolled. “No one. No one and  _ no-thing  _ \- unless you count that stupid dog of his-”

“Makkachin’s not stupid!” Yuuri blurted.

He realised his mistake a fraction too late.

Yurio froze across the table, burger poised halfway to his half open mouth and sharp emerald eyes flickering up over the bun to glare at Yuuri.

Yuuri fought the urge to shrink in his chair. 

“How do you know what his dog is called?” Yurio asked, setting the burger back down in the takeaway pot and levelling Yuuri with his best glare, tone deadly quiet. Yuuri had seen people recoil from that stare before… now he understood perfectly why they did.

He squirmed in his seat, feeling his colleagues both staring at him intensely. What could he say? He couldn’t really blurt out that Victor had smuggled the poodle into the office and asked Yuuri to dogsit while he’d been in a meeting, knowing that secrets had a way of travelling in that building - especially when Phichit was involved. But how else could he cover knowing this very personal fact about Victor’s life?

“Um-”

He tried not to panic. He really did, shivers tingling at the back of his neck and heart skipping a beat the longer Yurio glared at him, brain turning to mush and words just glooping in his mouth.

But it was hopeless.

He stood up from his chair with the metal legs squealing against the floor, all but throwing his chopsticks down in his bento box and gathering it up in his arms. 

And - like a coward - he fled.

Without answers.

 

* * *

He couldn’t stop thinking about what Yurio had said though - even when he’d got home, frowning as he made his nightly cup of tea and packed his bento lunch for tomorrow the way his mother had always made for him in Japan.

Victor didn’t have that.

Yuuri was pretty sure whatever family Victor had were far away in Russia and he’d never mentioned having a partner or flatmate. 

As Yurio had said - Victor had no one. 

Yuuri found it sad. 

Who did Victor have to talk him through his bad day or cheer him up with his favourite food? That’s what Yuuri’s mother had always done for him when he was a kid. What he did for Phichit now. Who did that for Victor? Who looked after him?

_ No one _ , Yurio had said. 

Yuuri’s heart pulled. 

He wasn’t sure what he could do. It was none of his business after all - absolutely none - and he shouldn’t meddle but… 

Victor needed  _ someone _ to look out for him - even for something as simple as eating properly.

Yuuri had barely finished the thought before he reached under the kitchen counter and pulled out a second box and chopsticks set.

 

* * *

Yuuri really tried to focus on his computer the next morning, trying to block out the furious thoughts that bombarded his mind about the little box sat halfway across the office - no way at all to tie it back to him, but what if someone  _ knew… _

Nobody had seen him.

Yuuri had gotten into the office a whole hour earlier just to make sure there was no one around to see him plant the evidence, nobody that could stitch him up.

But even that wasn’t enough to settle his mind. 

What if Victor didn’t like it? What if he thought it was too forward of Yuuri and was none of his business? What if he reported him to HR? What if he thought it was stupid? What if he was allergic to something and Yuuri might accidentally kill him? He’d never asked. He should have asked, he should’ve-

The crack of a box lid opening snapped him back to reality with a jolt, heart in his mouth. When he turned around, Victor was stood at his desk, staring down with an expression that Yuuri was too far away to distinguish. Was it good? Was it bad? 

Then Victor’s head lifted.

Yuuri snapped his eyes forward back to his own computer in a heartbeat, praying Victor hadn’t seen him.

 

* * *

Victor’s heart thudded hard in his chest, watching Yuuri’s cheeks flood an adorable shade of pink across the office the moment their eyes had met for that one fleeting moment. It told him all he needed to know, closing the lid back over the bento box and all the goodies it had inside it.

Warmth blushed high on his own cheek bones as he sat down, flattered, and touched, and smitten with an intensity that hit him so hard he could barely breathe. His eyes were misty as his laptop loaded, fingertips drumming quietly over the bento box lid as if to remind himself it was really there, that it had really happened. Nobody had made lunch for him since he was fifteen years old, always capable, always looking after himself…

That one box shined through his crappy week like a beacon from heaven, lighting the end of his tunnel and renewing his strength for one more long day of many.

Victor couldn’t wait for lunchtime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Victor needed it <3


	19. Wage Expenses

Victor slung his laptop bag over his shoulder, hitching back his sleeve to check his watch. Two hours. Two hours and thirteen minutes, to be exact. He sighed heavily, shoulders slumping. Two hours and thirteen minutes since he should have left work. Two hours and thirteen minutes that he should have switched off. Two hours and thirteen minutes late to make Makkachin her dinner…

The last one would get him in the most trouble, not looking forward to the big puppy dog eyes and miserable ‘ _why did you leave me’_ whining waiting for him when he got home.

The office was dead silent, lights dim. They were the automatic type that went off after a certain period of stillness, triggered to work by movement. With Victor glued to his desk for the last two hours, they were pretty bleak.

That was why he had to do a double take as he crossed the office, squinting through the dullness.

“Yuuri?”

The _shadow_ lurking behind Yuuri’s monitor jolted, a head of black hair and blurry brown eyes blinking up over the computer.

It caught Victor by surprise, eyebrows shooting up into his hairline. The clerk finished even earlier than Victor did – at least he _should_ do. What was he still doing here?

 _What was_ Victor _still doing there?_

Victor shoved the nagging thought to the back of his mind.

He hitched his bag higher up his shoulder. “Staying late?”

Yuuri pressed his eyes shut and mouth closed, pinching the corners up in a stiff smile as he nodded. He looked knackered…

Victor tried not to notice the bags under Yuuri’s eyes or the pale touch to Yuuri’s cheeks. He knew Yuuri worked hard and had just had Celestino try and dump some more work on him, busy with his studies and with living away from him, he must have rent to worry about to even if he did share it with Phichit. Every inch of stress showed on the clerk’s face. When was the last time he slept?

Victor just cleared his throat though, matching Yuuri’s tight grin. “You must enjoy the extra money though, right?”

“I don’t get any.”

Victor’s smile faltered.

_What?_

Working late wasn’t too much of an issue for Victor. He was paid for it. His generous salary covered any compensation he might expect for a late night or two every now and then, and it was expected with the title. But Yuuri… Yuuri was just a _clerk_ …

“It’s just this file Celestino wants me to reconcile,” Yuuri said, running his hands over his weary face. “He wants me to take over, but doesn’t fully understand it himself. The person who did it before him didn’t tell him, and so he can’t tell me. He wants me to reconfigure the whole spreadsheet…”

Victor swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to ignore the heavy guilt settling in his stomach. Yuuri was busy _creating_ a whole new file? Victor felt bad for giving him all the journals now…

But Yuuri should still be _paid_ for this extra time.

Victor flicked his bangs out of his eyes. “Go home, Yuuri,” he said, mind made up. “I’ll speak to Celestino.”

 

* * *

 

A fixed contract.

Victor was furious.

Yuuri was on a fixed salary contract with no overtime pay, not even any kind of allowance for an additional overtime rate – and it wasn’t the first time the clerk stayed late, he soon learned.

Victor’s jaw was tense as he typed a strongly worded email to HR and Celestino.

 

* * *

 

Yuuri didn’t even remember that late night when he logged into his computer a few mornings later, frowning at the email from HR sat in his inbox. His eyes scanned over the message.

_‘Minako Okukawa has invited you to e sign the document Contract Amendment._

_Click the button for further instructions.’_

Yuuri clicked the button indicated. A new page opened up. He frowned at the screen, murmuring the words aloud to himself as he read. “In recognition of progress and hard work in the role of Stammi Vicino Accounts Receivable, your salary has increased to-”

His hand slapped over his mouth.

Yuuri’s breath hitched and he clutched a hand to his chest at the significantly larger salary figure that he was accustomed to trickling into his bank account every month splashed on his screen. This was… _wow,_ he breathed to himself, heart hammering against his ribcage. He leaned forward and read more.

 _‘In all other respects, your terms and conditions of employment will remain unchanged. We would like to_ _take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts and look forward to your continued support._

_We would be grateful if you could sign this letter via e signature, to signify your acceptance.’_

Another button like the one before sat underneath, read and inviting. Yuuri swallowed the lump in his throat, hovering his mouse over it.

And clicked.

A new email flashed in his mailbox, titled ‘ _C_ _onfirmation of salary change’._ He didn’t have the heart palpitations to read it in that moment, still trying digest what has just happened.

He’d been given a pay rise. With no prompting, no asking, no job title change or appraisal with his manager. Celestino hadn’t said anything. _Yuuri_ hadn’t said anything! Why? Why had the company decided to give him a pay rise out of the blue like that?

Then it clicked, Yuuri’s eyes flashing wide.

He glanced across the office.

Victor’s eyes sparkled over the desktop.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just so we're clear, Victor looked at everyone's salary, not just Yuuri. Justice was served to all the lower men.


	20. Excuses

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Nikofoshizo - 'One time when I worked at a grocery store there was a cute guy over by where you throw out all the boxes and stuff and I would go over when I had like only one box to throw out just to talk to him.'

 

“I think the printer needs more paper,” Yuuri said, finger hovering over the print button on his computer screen. There was no error message. No queue by the printer. No problem…

But he needed more paper.

Beside him, Phichit sniggered. “Yuuri, you’re printing like two pages.”

Yuuri ignored him.

“It wouldn’t have anything to do with where the paper is stacked while the electrician is in, would it?”

The electrician had come in three hours ago and was still standing on top of his ladder braced against the filing cabinets by the printer as he reached up to the broken lightbulb hanging from the ceiling. Usually, the spare paper sat behind the filing cabinets. Moved for the ladder and being not allowed to be left in the middle of the floor – something about a trip hazard – it had been moved to the edge of one of the desk sets instead.

And not just anyone’s desk.

Victor’s.

Yuuri didn’t dignify Phichit’s question with an answer.

Instead, he just straightened his shirt, swallowed the faint tinge of humiliation burning his blushing cheeks, and crossed the office.

Victor didn’t look up, engrossed in his laptop and his back to Yuuri from the angle he sat in his chair, twisting back and forth ever so slightly as he thought. An arm was crossed over his chest, fingers curled under his chin – his thinking pose. Yuuri saw it a lot lately.

It was a beautiful profile as he drew level with the director’s desk, sneaking a quick look at the sharp angles and strong jawline.

In another life, Victor would have made an amazing model, Yuuri thought to himself.

He thumbed the top pack of paper open slowly, carefully. He didn’t want to disturb Victor after all, just… look.

But he wouldn’t be opposed if Victor wanted to look back….

_ Look at me,  _ he willed in his head, glancing across the office as Victor’s finger traced his lower lip thoughtfully. Yuuri’s heart pounded hard in his chest, following the movement religiously.

 

* * *

Victor was desperately trying not to look, because he knew that once he looked, he wouldn’t be able to stop. Yuuri’s gaze danced across his skin like wildfire. Victor felt every glance, intoxicating and somehow still not enough. He swallowed the thick lump in his throat, feeling his pulse in his fingertips his heart was beating so fast.

He couldn’t look. No, he couldn’t look…

Then out of the corner of his eye, he caught Yuuri move subtly – hips pushing back as he leaned further over the paper stack – and Victor’s head whipped round so fast his neck cracked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have you left kudos? Check you've left kudos. I may or may not have a special little surprise for when this fic hits 1k kudos....


	21. Slacking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, that 1k kudos was easier than I thought! Didn't realise all I had to do was ask. You guys really are the best <3  
> Super, super thanks! This is, like, the ultimate achievement of my fanfiction-ing. I can die happy now.
> 
> So as promised, special chapter I wrote for a little breath of relief from the wistful pining. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

“Hey Yuuri, can I have a word?”

Seven words that struck fear into Yuuri Katsuki’s heart without fail, the stuff of nightmares, the thing that absolutely haunted him…

It was bad enough coming from his boss.

It was worse coming from his boss’s boss.

Victor leaned against Yuuri’s desk divider with posture both relaxed and somehow incredibly intimidating at the same time. Perhaps it was the sharp white lines in his waistcoat. Perhaps it was the stark cobalt blue of his tie, making his eyes pop gloriously as they stared down at the clerk, guarded and unforgiving. He wasn’t smiling like usual. 

_ That couldn’t be good _ , Yuuri thought with his employment flashing before his eyes. But what could he do?

“S-sure,” he nodded, standing.

His first thought was what had he done wrong? 

_ Can I have a word _ was office code for  _ you’re absolutely fucked, _ wasn’t it? In Yuuri’s mind it was. Anything that needed saying in private, with that official tone of voice…

What had he done?

His mind raced.

Sure, he’d sent out his email to the Turkey office chasing payment a few days later than he should have, but they should still be able to pay before the deadline. Perhaps it was that invoice sat pending on his desk while he waiting for a few confirming details from the supplier before he processed it. Maybe someone had complained about him playing his music too loud in his car as he drove into the parking lot.

A thousand possibilities ran through Yuuri’s mind as he followed Victor to the meeting room - not Victor’s usual meeting room, Yuuri noticed with a halted heart. They walked right past the open glass panelled meeting room that Victor usually favoured, with a perfect view of Yuuri’s desk. No, this time he walked right round the corner, to the crook in the corridor that was almost totally secluded from the rest of the office if it wasn’t for the thin strip of glass in the door that faced towards the fire exit door across the corridor. No one would see them. 

Yuuri’s heart hammered behind his ribcage as he stepped inside, Victor following silently and rolling down the ridiculous little blind over the door panel that nobody ever used. 

Today, Victor did.

Was Yuuri really in that much trouble?

Yuuri didn’t dare sit, hardly brave enough to take a breath as he stood awkwardly between the meeting table and the wall. He wasn’t able to meet Victor’s eye. His pulse boomed in his ear, waiting for Victor to shout, or fire him, or -

His back hit the wall.

Victor crossed the office in two long strides, cupped Yuuri’s face in both hands and angled his chin up just a touch - just enough to steal the gasp right off Yuuri’s lips with his own.

Yuuri squeaked into the kiss.

His eyes shot wide with shock but all they saw was Victor’s closed eyelids, pressed tightly shut and eyebrows crinkled in the middle with an expression Yuuri could only describe as frustrated. His silver eyelashes fanned out over his pink flushed cheeks, the tip of his nose nudging a smudge in the corner of Yuuri’s glasses lens. Yuuri fell in love with it. He would never clean them again.

And Victor’s mouth pressed hard against his, soft lips holding nothing back as he kissed the air right out of Yuuri’s lungs. 

Yuuri’s next breath stuttered into a whimper.

His heart pounded like he had ran a marathon as he became all too aware of Victor around him. The warmth of his fingertips around his face. The hard planes of his  _ firm _ torso as his body closed the gap between them. The demanding push of his tongue past Yuuri’s teeth, taking  _ everything _ .

Yuuri’s eyes fluttered, knees going weak. His hands found Victor’s biceps, fingers tangling in the fine material of his shirt to hold himself upright. 

And he kissed Victor back.

The kiss broke all too soon.

Victor pulled back, gasping for breath. His forehead rested against Yuuri’s, mouth cracking into a grin that gave Yuuri butterflies in his stomach.

It was only then he noticed how hard he was breathing too.

“I’ve wanted to do that all day…” Victor sighed, breath hot over Yuuri’s lips, tanged with the faint taste of rich coffee.

It was too much temptation for Yuuri to bear.

His hand tangled in the short silver locks at the back of the director’s head and tugged him down hard, dragging him in for another hot, heavy kiss that Yuuri lost his soul to.

It was everything he dreamed of.

Hot and dirty - all tongue and teeth clashing - like Victor needed Yuuri to breathe, moaning against his lips and the sound igniting Yuuri’s blood like a firework. Yuuri’s hips rocked away from the wall, arching his body into Victor’s. An arm snaked around the back of his waist, holding them flush together.

Someone’s breath hitched.

Yuuri wasn’t sure if it was him or Victor that broke first - but then Victor was peeling him away from the wall and clearing the meeting table with one sweep of his arm, pens and phone handset clattering to the floor loudly. 

Yuuri didn’t pay it any mind.

Because in the next heartbeat, Victor was hoisting him up on the table and leaning over him with eyes like a stormy sky. Yuuri’s insides melted.

Then Victor stepped between his parted knees and Yuuri’s brain completely short circuited. 

He couldn’t remember his own name as Victor leaned down for another kiss and Yuuri reached up to grab a fistful of his tie to pull him down even faster. He wanted more -  _ needing  _ more - body a live wire of desire as Victor’s mouth finally connected with his again and -

_ “YUURI!” _

Yuuri’s eyes blinked open just in time to feel the rubber finger cone bounce off the side of his face, not enough to hurt but enough to make him jolt in surprise.

The papers underneath his elbow balanced on the desktop scattered to the floor with a flutter, the spreadsheet he vaguely remembered working on a while ago filling his computer screen as his eyes blinked back to clarity. He was back in the office. Back at his desk, with Phichit muffling his giggles beside him. He could feel the indent of the backs of his fingers from where they’d been braced against his cheek and the wetness in the corner of his mouth -  _ shit! _ He’d been drooling.

Then he noticed Phichit’s phone on the desktop, heart stuttering and blood draining from his face.

“Please tell me you didn’t take a picture.”

Phichit just winked.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some people have started reaching out to me with on my [Tumblr](https://justrae2010.tumblr.com/), so here's a little side note to say that please come join the party if you want to. Drop a message or ask, if you've got an idea you want to send in a little hush-hush like.


	22. Sick Days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brave_Soul_And_Heart, does this fit your 'Like, say, it’s raining, Yuuri don’t have an umbrella, so Victor gives him his? Or offers him a ride home'? 
> 
> Close, right?

Victor couldn’t concentrate – not with that persistent little wheeze of a cough drifting across the office every few minutes, delicate, soft, and … and _really annoying_.

At first, he’d tried to ignore it. And when that hadn’t worked he’d tried to run away from it, hiding in a spare meeting room until he was kicked out by those who had actually booked it for actual work purposes other than just hiding from sick employees.

But when he reluctantly strolled back into the office with his laptop in hand, scanning around the desks for the source of the disturbance, he damned near dropped his computer.

He was by Yuuri’s desk in seconds.

“Yuuri,” he said, shock lacing his voice. He couldn’t help it; he was shocked, eyes wide as they stared down at his poor accounts clerk. “Oh, Yuuri, you look awful.”

Yuuri tipped his head up – slowly, like the whole movement was a colossal effort for him. His eyes looked glassy, tired, weary smile forcing a stiff curve in his mouth. “Thanks,” he tried to grin, looking waxy and exhausting for him.

It just made Victor’s heart tug more.

“Yuuri, just go home.”

The clerk jolted at that, spine straightening and eyes flashing with alarm. It didn’t change the fact he was still white as a sheet though… “What? No, I’m fine-”

“Yuuri, you look like you’re about to keel over.”

He didn’t say anything to that.

Yuuri had to admit, he didn’t feel great. His sore throat from the weekend had manifested into a dry cough overnight with shivers and a fever that he could feel climbing hour by hour. If he could just make it through to lunchtime though, then maybe he could walk to the drug store and-

“Just go, Yuuri,” Phichit chipped in from beside him, grey eyes kind and smile warm. “I can cover for you.”

Yuuri’s eyebrows pulled up the same time the corners of his mouth pulled down, grimacing. He didn’t like missing work, even if he was ill. He had things to do, things he _wanted_ to do himself and didn’t want Phichit to have to pick up the pieces. His friend had enough to do. It wasn’t fair – and it was only a little cough. Yuuri could battle it out. He could…

The eyes bearing down on him didn’t fill him with much hope though – it may not be his choice whether he stayed or not.

It was like Victor read his mind.

“Yuuri,” he said, voice gentle but firm, laced with authority. Yuuri ducked his head down – Victor never used his _director’s voice_ with Yuuri. Never… “Go home. As your bosses boss, with the welfare of our other employees in mind, I am requesting that you exercise your right to take a sick day. Just go.”

He didn’t sound mad – but Yuuri still felt waves of humiliation and disappointment crash through him all the same, lashing at him inside his torturing thoughts.

Reluctantly, he nodded.

Victor leaned his arm casually on the desk divider, small smile playing on his lips out of the corner of Yuuri’s eye.

“Can you drive?”

Yuuri stood up, shrugging as he did so – and the world span. His eyes rolled back in his head with his dizzy spell and his knees gave out, slumping back in his chair with a heavy thud. His head lolled to the side, waiting for the world to come to a stop while he caught his gasping breathe.

_Shit._

“I’ll take that as a no.”

Cool knuckles pressed against Yuuri’s forehead and he whimpered before he could help it, touch soothing against the burning skin of his forehead. He fluttered his eyes shut, savouring the sensation.

“Oh, Yuuri…” Victor’s voice sounded strained. “You should be in bed.”

“Is it bad?”

“Very…”

It took everything in Yuuri not to whine as the cool fingers pulled away, feeling his lips pout in protest.

“Phichit, you and Yuuri are roommates, right?”

“Yeah…”

“Jot down your address for me, would you?”

“Okay…”

“I’m just going to drop him home. He’s in no state to travel by himself. Tell Celestino I’ll be back in an hour, please?”

“Um, sure…”

Yuuri listened to the conversation around him like in a daze, hearing the words but not quite translating what they meant until a few minutes later. When he did, his eyes shot wide – and he winced at the bolt of pain that shot through his temple as he did so.

“ _Ah_!”

His hand bolted up to his head, but he froze as a pair of strong, steady hands pressed into his shoulders from behind, smoothing his coat over his shoulders.

He didn’t need to look to know – Victor.

The hands ran over his shoulders, down his arms until they were at the muscle of his biceps, squeezing slightly. “Come on, Yuuri,” Victor’s silky voice encouraged in his ear. “Let’s get you home.”

 

* * *

 

Yuuri tried desperately to keep his eyes open… but the smooth glide of the car, the gentle purr of the engine, and the warmth of the heater was quickly lulling him dangerously close to dreaming. His cheek rested against the seatbelt, car cradling him as Victor drove. He hummed in contentment, relaxing into the drive.

“Nice car,” he mumbled, feeling his eyes fluttering. He was almost beyond the point of caring, just so comfortable…

Victor just smirked beside him. “Company car,” he said, eyes never leaving the road. “My personal one’s a bit different.”

Yuuri hummed again, only just conscious to listen.

“What is it?” he asked.

“A hot pink Ferrari convertible.”

 _Oh_.

The gap between Yuuri’s eyebrows creased – he hadn’t been expecting that. He’d been expecting another sleek, smooth, suave BMW in black or steely silver to match Victor’s hair. Hot pink had never once been on his radar, Ferrari a brand more flamboyant than he would have expected of Victor. Perhaps his director wasn’t quite who Yuuri saw in the office. Out of work, he sounded a lot more… extra.

 

* * *

 

Yuuri couldn’t bring himself to be embarrassed about Victor’s arm wrapped around his waist, all but holding him up as his weak knees wobbled on the stairs up to his and Phichit’s flat. He could feel the warmth of Victor’s body leaking through his crisp white shirt, heating Yuuri’s already red cheeks. He resisted the temptation to purr, so very content leaning against the director and feeling the firm, toned body beneath the suit.

Yuuri knew he should straighten up. Yuuri knew he should feel embarrassed at Victor seeing his crumpled up pyjamas on his floor where he’d been in a fuss that morning. Yuuri knew he should not have smiled as Victor laid him down in bed, director’s face looming over his like it would be if they’d been engaged in … _other_ activities in the bed.

He didn’t though.

The fever just ravaged his sensibility and instead of shame, all Yuuri felt was a deep, smug sense of satisfaction.

He fell asleep with a damp flannel draped over his forehead, painkillers swallowed, with Victor’s smile ghosting through his brain, his melodic chuckle ringing in his ears and striking his headache like an iron rattle. Yuuri didn’t care. He just savoured the cool touch of the director’s fingertips on his burning cheeks as Victor tucked him in, relishing it.

“Goodnight, Yuuri.”

 

* * *

 

Sometime later, Yuuri jolted awake with the loud slam of the door and the irritatingly cheery voice of Phichit ringing through the apartment. Yuuri just groaned, pulling the flannel off his face from where it had fallen over his eye in his sleep.

The bed dipped as Phichit sat down at his hip… and a burst of white and yellow thrust under his nose.

Pollen filled his nose, and he sneezed.

“Guess who these are from!” Phichit said, _way_ too enthusiastically.

Yuuri just glared, propping himself up on his elbows. A bright bouquet of brilliant white daisies lay on his chest, bundled up with elaborate ribbon tied in a beautiful bow. They were pretty. More than pretty. Yuuri would have smiled at them if it wasn’t for the annoying Thai boy waking him up from his sleep.

“I don’t know,” he grumbled, flopping back into bed. “The tooth fairy?”

“Wrong! Guess again.”

Yuuri paused. “Victor?”

“Yes, Victor!” The bed bounced as Phichit leaned back, cackling with glee. “Oh my God, he so likes you!”

That teased a smile from Yuuri’s lips, pulling up the covers to hide his grin and the glow of his cheeks. “He does not.”

“Does to!”

“Does not…”

_“Does to!”_

Yuuri didn’t want to argue. He just hugged his flowers and breathed in deep, remembering the crystal blue eyes and silver hair that haloed the angel that had looked after him.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right, it's that time again.
> 
> Exam time.
> 
> I'll try and post as normal, but D-Day is next Wednesday and I am low key freaking out a little bit about this one so the schedule for this fic might end up a bit fudged to normal next week or a day here and there skipped. Sorry. Please don't hate me.


	23. Office Pranks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For WarriorNun.

April Fool’s day wasn’t just any day in the office. Victor knew that. His staff knew it. Everyone ought to know it. After all, April Fool’s was April 1st, the first day of the month – and they all knew what that meant.

_Monthend_.

So Victor thought he was safe.

Everyone would be too busy closing their accounts to worry about jokes and pranks, surely, stress taking precedent over the holiday. That was how it was for Victor anyway, already planning ahead to reconcile his receivables by noon.

He thought he was safe.

One look at his desk told him he was wrong.

“What the …”

His desk didn’t look like his desk anymore. Nearly every part of it had been covered in paper, faces staring out at him in all sizes with a mad grin and wild eyes. Large, small, plastered over his screen and wrapped around his mouse, pressed over the keys of his keyboard, with that deranged face staring up out at him from a thousand different angles. He had to squint to see who it was.

“Nicolas Cage?” said a voice behind him.

Victor jumped out of his skin, nearly dropping his laptop.

His best friend stood behind him peering over his shoulder, hands innocently folded behind his back like he hadn’t just given Victor a heart attack.

“Jesus, Chris…” Victor sighed with a hand over his heart, putting his laptop down on the desk before he really did break the thing. “You can’t do that to me. Not at my age. I won’t make it into my thirties at this rate.”

Christophe chuckled, flopping back into the chair beside Victor’s. “We’ve been over this, _cheri_. You’re not old.”

“My receding hairline disagrees with you.”

“You’re gonna need to lighten up if you’re going to get through today without killing someone.”

Victor already felt murderous, rubbing his throbbing temples and staring down at his chaotic desk with dismay. “What even is this …”

Christophe leaned forward, picking off a loose corner of Nicolas Cage’s forehead from Victor’s mug coaster.

“Weak, is what I call it,” he said, flicking the bit of paper away. “Weak… compared to what I’ve got planned for you at least.” He winked.

Victor’s face fell forward into his hands, groaning into his fingers… until he actually digested Christ’s words and his heart gave another leap. _Oh no –_ whatever that meant, it couldn’t be good…

His head jerked up. “What? Wait, Chris-”

Chris was already gone.

 

* * *

 

Victor was on edge the moment he turned on his laptop, waiting for something to jump out at him or find a grisly discovery somewhere in his draw… what had Chris done? How much would Victor hate him for doing it?

One thing was for sure – it wasn’t as much as Yura hated JJ.

_“Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you-”_

Music exploded from Yurio’s computer across the office, the unmistakable Rick Astley blaring across the office until with a few frantic clicks Yura finally was able to switch it off. Not before it was too late though, grins blooming on faces like wildfire across the desks – including Victor’s. He chuckled quietly to himself, careful not to get noticed.

“Fucking JJ!”

 

* * *

 

An hour later – and Victor still disaster free – he found himself leaning over the desk divider by Yuuri’s desk, checking in on the receivables closing progress. At least, that was what he told himself. He’d ask at some point at the work… eventually…

“Did you escape unscathed?” he asked instead, glancing around Yuuri’s desk for traces of sabotage. So far, everything looked safe.

The clerk pulled a face though.

“Um, not really,” he said. “Phichit put my stapler in jelly.”

Victor blinked – had he heard that right? “What?”

Yuuri just pressed his lips together and opened his draw without another word, paper and files lining the bottom of the tray… on top of which sat a plate of yellow jelly with a floating black object inside. Yuuri’s stapler, Victor guessed.

He knew he should be irritated in some way. Damage to company property, the waste of time, the possible damage it could cause to the files… somehow he couldn’t quite get there.

“That is …” he was lost for words, pressing his lips together to try and hold back the giggles. He failed. “That is actually quite funny.”

The stapler hung so perfectly, floating in the middle of the jelly and the more Victor stared the funnier he found it, slapping a hand over his mouth before the laughter became too obscene. Yuuri shot him a sharp eye up, lips pouting oh-so adorably that did nothing to stem Victor’s amusement. He was just too cute.

And when a smile crept through the clerk’s lips – cracking through his irritation – Victor felt his heart skip a beat.

“I’m dreading getting it out,” Yuuri chuckled, running a hand through his hair.

Victor glanced back down into the draw to the yellow gloop… yeah, he wouldn’t want to dig his hands into that stuff either… “You could always borrow mine.”

“I might take you up on that.”

Yuuri smiled up at him – eyelashes batting – and whatever Victor had been about to say evaporated from his head, words turning to mush on his tongue. _Dammit,_ this happened far too often when he was around Yuuri…

“I saw you got caged this morning.”

Victor blinked, frowning. “Caged?”

Yuuri’s smile just widened. “The Nicolas Cage thing? It’s called being caged. Some old Tumblr joke, I think.”

“When did April Fool’s get so personal?” Victor sighed, raking a hand through his hair and ego sky rocketing when he noticed Yuuri’s eyes shift to his bicep. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to flex a little, he thought, tensing the muscle ever so slightly as he lingered his fingers casually by his hairline.

Yuuri’s cheeks darkened a shade, fingertips tracing the line of his ruler on his desk. “Maybe someone’s just trying to get your attention…”

Victor choked on air.

_Did-did Yuuri-_

“Um, Victor…” someone interrupted his stuttering thoughts. Yurio, he thought. He wasn’t paying much attention... “Have you seen your car?”

_What?_

Victor glanced up, tearing his eyes away from Yuuri’s coyly sparkling gaze to catch Yurio leaning out the open, eyebrows knitted together in the middle. A smirk was twitching at his lips though.

That couldn’t be good.

“What the …”

Victor stepped behind Yuuri, eyes glancing out the window into the car park to where he knew his car was parked – always the same spot, every single day – hoping and praying that his company vehicle was still there, still where he last left it. He didn’t fancy explaining to Yakov how he may have got his car nicked right out of the company carpark…

It was there though, glinting gloriously in the sunlight… through the many, many layers of shrink-wrapping wrapped around it.

Victor’s jaw dropped open.

He knew in a heartbeat – _Chris_.

Clingfilm stretched over every inch of the car; over the doors and door handles, the sunroof, the wing mirrors, the wheels right down to the road. Victor pressed his lips shut, nodding to himself. Chris had done a thorough job at least, not remotely looking forward to peeling his car free at the end of the day. That would not be fun. For now though… he rolled his eyes and turned back to Yuuri, clerk grinning as he peeked out over the window ledge. He wasn’t even mad.


	24. Work Benefits

There were a lot of perks for working for Stammi Vicino Ltd. A generous pension plan, medical insurance, discounts off certain shopping outlets… and a gym membership, Yuuri discovered one day. A gym membership, on site, for the small fee of five dollars a month. He couldn’t sign himself up fast enough.

It had always been a bit of an uphill battle with the gym. Yuuri exercised with his dance and figure skating on the side, but no matter how much he worked out or how well he ate, he could never seem to shift the type of weight that hugged around his middle.

But he’d try the gym. After all, he had nothing to lose by it.

Until he walked in the day after his induction and saw Victor at the mats, doing press ups so perfectly they made Yuuri’s head spin.

He froze in the doorway, shell-shocked.

After a moment, Victor glanced up. A smile smoothed over his face in a heartbeat. “Oh… hey, Yuuri.”

Yuuri felt all the blood rise to his face as Victor stood up, silver bangs matted to his sweaty forehead and grey t-shirt all but glued to his torso, lean muscles of his arms rippling out of the sleeves. The hem rose up ever so slightly, exposing a thin slither of sweaty skin above his hipbone. It wasn’t fair.

Yuuri could feel himself staring. “I-I didn’t know you went here.”

Victor obviously worked out – the whole world could see that Victor had to work out somewhere – but Yuuri had assumed it would be some fancy, premium membership gym – not _here_!

Victor just grinned at him, running a towel along the firm line where his neck met his shoulder.

Yuuri tried not to follow the bead of sweat than ran down after it.

“Two years now,” Victor said, a little out of breath, bracing his hands on his slim hips. “When did you join?”

“Yesterday,” Yuuri answered on autopilot, wrenching his eyes away from the firm lines of Victor’s body and forcing them up to his face. His sweaty, and unfairly attractive face. _Damn_. “I, um…” Yuuri forgot how to talk, watching the pink splash of colour dance over Victor’s cheekbones from the exertion. It only made him feel bigger in his own skin, clumsier, more undignified than before. He shuffled where he stood, uncomfortable in his own skin. “I need to lose some weight.”

He fought the urge to look down as he said it, trying to ignore the heat washing over his own face at the confession. He wasn’t proud of his body. It took everything in him to remind himself that he wasn’t _ashamed_ though… or at least, shouldn’t be.

“Yuuri, you really don’t need to lose weight.”

More heat splashed over Yuuri’s cheekbones. He heard it a lot, but it never made him feel any better – not even coming from Victor.

“I do,” he just whined, words rolling off his tongue the way they always did in response to that usual drabble. “I’m fat. Look at this!” Before he could stop himself, his fingers pinched at his side, squishing a roll of skin and flesh between his thumb and forefinger. There was definitely a roll. It was enough. Yuuri bet Victor didn’t have any rolls…

His eyes shot wide half a beat later, realising a moment too late what he was doing – showing Victor all his fat bits?! What was he thinking?!

He covered his embarrassment with a small cough as he smoothed over his shirt again, wishing beyond hope that he could rewind the last five minutes.

“You’re curvy,” Victor just laughed. “Not fat. Bet that makes you really comfy to snuggle with, right?”

Yuuri looked up just in time to see Victor’s devastating wink.

His words died in his throat. “I, um- I wouldn’t know.”

He couldn’t think – not when Victor’s eyes were staring at him like that, all bright and glittering like there was a secret behind them, between them. Yuuri wanted to know what it was. Whatever it was though, it looked happy. It made Yuuri’s heart do flips.

“I’d rather look like you,” he said before he could help it, words spilling too easily from his loose lips. It wasn’t exactly a lie though; Victor was physical perfection.

Judging by the smirk that flickered up to Yuuri – Victor crouched to fix his loosening shoelaces – the director knew it too. A gorgeous flush of delicate pink washed over his cheeks. “You like how I look?”

_Who wouldn’t?_

In reality though, Yuuri just shrugged. “I bet the girls do?”

Victor’s face scrunched, turning his nose up. He still looked unfairly pretty... “Not really my type.”

Yuuri tried his very hardest not to smile too hard.

 

* * *

 

“Come on, Yuuri, you can do it. Just five more.”

Yuuri gritted his teeth and tried to ignore the fire running through his arms, the tingles in his fingertips that nearly had him seeing stars. The bench dug hard into the curve of his fingers, a stark pressure that was nowhere near strong enough to drown out the pain.

He fought to hold on to the bench edge by the small of his back, legs stretched out in front of him, as his arms bent slowly – _painfully_ – lowering himself –

He couldn’t hold it.

He crashed to the ground in a heap, crying out as his ass hit the floor hard. The blaze in his triceps didn’t ease up.

“I’m sorry,” he just gasped, breathless, slumping forward in a heap and folding over his legs, reaching back to rub the burning muscles in the back of his arms. “I can’t. I really tried, but … I can’t…”

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the flash of movement as Victor crouched down beside him, clapping a hand down on Yuuri’s shoulder.

“It’s okay,” Victor just smiled, teeth a brilliant flash of white. “Tricep dips are evil. You did good.”

Yuuri didn’t have the breath to do anything but nod as Victor handed him the water bottle, gulping down the cool liquid gratefully.

“So… same time tomorrow, yeah?”

Yuuri choked.

His arms were so numb, he needed both hands and a bit of help from Phichit to pull up the handbrake on his car when he got home.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did this with someone at my work who does some personal training and omg, arm day. Dead. I really did have to call my boyfriend out of the house to pull my handbrake up when I got home. It was brutal.


	25. Office Assistance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Brave_Soul_And_Heart: injured Victor being doted on by sorry Yuuri is everything

Victor had never imagined that a hairline fracture on his wrist would ever be anything but a nightmare, but… he was wrong.

“Oh my God,” Yuuri’s eyes popped when he saw the cast poking out of his shirt sleeve going up in the elevator one morning, face draining of colour like Victor was having a stroke rather than just wearing a cast. His gaze darted back up to Victor’s face. “W-what happened?”

“Makkachin,” Victor sighed. “Pulled a little too hard on the leash and knocked me into a park bench. Caught my wrist at the wrong angle.”

It wasn’t a big deal. It didn’t hurt – it itched more than anything else, trapped under the tight cast – but beyond being a nuisance and being a little more careful than normal, it didn’t make much of a difference to his life.

Yuuri seemed to think otherwise.

His eyes dropped down to the laptop bag at Victor’s hip, strapped across his chest from his shoulder. “H-here, let me take that for you.”

Victor smiled. “It’s fine, it doesn’t hurt-”

“I insist.”

The next time Yuuri blinked his eyes were like chocolate marbles, solid and determined, burning with resolve that Victor didn’t understand. It was a bag. Just a bag. Sure, the strap jostled against his cast sometimes when he walked, but that was it. It didn’t hurt. It wasn’t a problem.

But Yuuri was already slipping the strap off Victor’s shoulders and slinging it carefully over his own, small, sure smile playing on his lips.

Victor’s cheeks felt warm.

Maybe his near broken wrist didn’t have to be a bad thing after all…

 

* * *

 

An hour later, Victor leaned against Yuuri’s desk divider, batting his eyelashes in slow, deliberate strokes down at his favourite clerk.

“ _ Yuuuuuuri _ ,” he made sure to draw out the syllables in Yuuri’s name, voice bordering on whiny. He had a suspicion that the clerk liked when his accent rolled like that though. “I need some coffee.”

Yuuri blinked up, blushing.

Victor grinned inside.

“Um,” Yuuri frowned. “Okay?”

He didn’t move though. He didn’t get the hint.

Victor sighed, lifting his cast up over the desk divider and casting it a dramatic mournful eye. “The kettle is really heavy…” He threw in a little pout too, just to be sure.

Yuuri’s eyes flashed, back jolting straight in his chair. “Oh God, of course! Sorry, I’ll just, um…” he glanced at his computer screen, closing the email he’d been in the middle of replying to without a second thought. “Let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

“Are you sure you should be driving with your wrist like that?” Yuuri asked at the end of the day, carrying Victor’s laptop bag to his car for him.

Victor clicked his car open on impulse more than anything as Yuuri said it, freezing as he opened the car door and his wrist twinged ever so slightly. “Um…” he genuinely hadn’t thought about it. “It’s not so bad. It’s an automatic so all I have to worry about is the steering. I never thought of it really…”

Yuuri frowned at him.

Victor could see the cogs whirring behind the clerk’s eyes, that same intense focus in his gaze that he’d worn before. He could see Yuuri’s jaw twitch to say something, wrestling with himself.

Then-

“Where do you live?” Yuuri said, words fast like he was spitting them out before he could stop himself. “I’ll pick you up.”

 

* * *

Victor stood outside his apartment complex practically bouncing on his toes the next morning, trying – and failing – to make sure his smile wasn’t too big, wasn’t too happy, wasn’t too obvious that he was absolutely thrilled that Yuuri wanted to drive him to and from work because he wanted to take care of his wrist. His laptop bag sat by his ankles as he waited; he knew Yuuri wouldn’t like to see him straining his wrist to hold it.

He knew he was being ridiculous. Yuuri was just doing him a favour – since he really probably shouldn’t drive, just like Yuuri said – but Victor was beyond excited, making sure to put on his favourite suit and take just that little extra time to style his hair before Yuuri showed up. He wanted to impress.

When Yuuri pulled up in his slightly beat up blue death trap, Victor smile almost faltered with worry. Almost. Well, if they died on the way, at least he’d die beside Yuuri…

“Morning!” he grinned when Yuuri stepped out, pink cheeked and a little breathless. His tie was off-centre. Victor found it adorable.

A warm smile flashed over Yuuri’s face, washing away the pinch between his eyebrows. He damned near stole Victor’s breath away when he smiled like that… “Good morning. Here, let me-”

Victor audibly gasped when Yuuri scurried round the car and opened the passenger door for him, holding it open while the director carefully slid into the seat. Victor was practically glowing as Yuuri put his laptop in the backseat, shuffling to make himself comfortable as he strapped up his seatbelt. 

“I brought some food for you for dinner, if you want it?” Yuuri said as he got back in the driver’s seat. “I made some extra last night because I wasn’t sure how well you could cook with your… you know…”

Victor could cook perfectly fine – or could at least pay for someone to do it for him to a decent standard…

But this was so much better.

Victor smiled to himself, wishing the road would stretch on forever and never end. “You’re so good to me, Yuuri.”

The four weeks he had that cast were the best four weeks of Victor’s life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the support with my exam guys!! I totally passed!
> 
> We'll get back to our regularly scheduled posting from tomorrow ^_^


	26. Office Bakes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For latte_with_two_sugar: "I often brought snacks and made coffee to share so everybody always looking forward for my shift ^^"

“This was a bad idea, Phichit.”Yuuri muttered to himself, leg bouncing under the table and fingers tapping at his knee. “Why did I let you talk me into this?”

Beside him, Phichit “Because it is actually a very good idea.”

“When’s the right time to put it up though?”

“Whenever you want.”

“I don’t want everyone staring at me...”

“Yuuri, it’s cake. If people are going to be staring at you, it will only be for good reason.”

Yuuri never liked his anxiety, but most of the time it never really bothered him. Nervous before an exam or panic attack before a job interview – he didn’t like it, but he dealt with it. Everybody got nervous in those situations. He was no different. His reaction might be a little more severe, but he was no different. He was normal.

But it was times like these – times no normal person should feel nervous about and that Yuuri did – that it  _ really  _ bothered him.

He’d been jostling with when to take the box of cake from out of under his desk, cross the office four feet and put it on top of the cabinets for everyone to see, for the last two hours. He wasn’t even sure what he was waiting for; for the office to be a bit quieter before he stood up, for more people to go on a coffee break, for someone to loudly hint they wanted a snack… he didn’t know. But he didn’t want to get it wrong.

“Just put it up,” Phichit encouraged gently, reading the overthinking in Yuuri’s gleaming eyes. He’d seen it before. He knew. “Or do you want me to? And get all the credit-”

Yuuri’s eyes sharpened.

It took everything in Phichit not to grin too broadly.

Still, the clerk’s teeth worried his lower lip as he scoured the office one last time before standing up – checking that no one was watching – fighting the urge to crack the lid of the tin open again for the fifth time that morning just to check the cake was still in the same condition he’d left it in before. It would be fine. He knew it would be fine. It had to be fine. Phichit had tried a slice the night before and had said it was fine.

… but what if it wasn’t fine?

The thought had Yuuri freezing where he stood on the way up to the cabinet, cake in hand and heart dropping into his stomach.

What if someone was allergic to something?

What if it was under baked?

What if it was dry?

What if nobody liked bananas?

It all went round and round in his head, each thought chipping away at his confidence until he was almost ready to turn on his heel and pretend the whole thing had never happened, smuggle the cake out at the end of the day like it had never been brought in in the first place or-

“Hey, Yuuri.”

Yuuri jumped out of his skin.

If he hadn’t been half a foot away from the cabinet, the cake tin would have hit the floor, plastic box slipping onto the table top just enough to avoid disaster. Yuuri’s heart was in his mouth as he watched the tin spin, settling into place with a delayed pause that Yuuri was sure had just shaved ten years off his life span.

When he glanced up, Victor was beside him. Tall, calm, confident … and frowning curiously, eyebrows quirked. “What are you doing?”

Yuuri felt his cheeks flame.

“Um,” he stumbled, fingertips playing with the hem of his shirt. “Just, um, putting out some cake that I made.”

Victor’s eyes popped.

“You made cake?!”

Yuuri didn’t have any words for the sparkling in Victor’s eye or the smile curving his lips, impossibly beautiful and totally unfair. He felt the colour on his cheeks darken, nodding silently down at his shoes.

“Can I try some?”

Another nod.

Yuuri wasn’t brave enough to look up, a zillion thoughts going through his mind about how he would carry on with his life if Victor didn’t like it, or spat it out, or-

“Yuuri perfected his banana cake recipe and I forced him to bring it in,” Phichit said from behind him, bursting his thought bubble. Yuuri could practically feel the shit eating grin bearing into the back of his skull. “You’re welcome.”

Yuuri whipped round in a heartbeat, eyes wide.

“P-Phichit!”

_ Not in front of Victor,  _ Yuuri prayed silently in his head.  _ Not in front of Victor, not in front of Victor- _

Phichit just grinned.

“What?” he shrugged, sparkle in his eye betraying that he knew  _ exactly  _ what he was doing. “You did! Found the perfect stage of mankey-ness for the bananas to taste extra amazing and everything.”

“Oh, really?” Victor arched a playful eyebrow, snapping the lid off the cake tin with a sharp crack. “And what’s the secret then, hm, Yuuri?”

“Well-”

Yuuri couldn’t look away as Victor picked up the knife and carved a slice from the loaf cake, blade sinking easily into the sponge.

“Um-”

He tried to get a glimpse of the sponge behind the blade, to see how the bake was – but almost the second the slice was free Victor was cutting off a corner, plucking it from the tin and popping it in his mouth, pink lips closing around the bite with a speckle of crumbs catching on his glossy lip balm.

Yuuri’s brain cells went to mush. “W-when they’re really soft and, um, mostly black and shrivelled-”

“That’s not how you described it last night.”

Yuuri’s heart skipped a beat.

He heard his breath catch, knowing exactly where Phichit was going with this and praying that he wasn’t actually  _ going with this _ because it was Victor, and they were at work  – in front of their  _ boss- _

“You said the perfect texture was when they felt like a flaccid penis.”

Victor nearly spat out his bite of cake.

Yuuri fluttered his eyes shut.

Horror was his sole thought. Horror and dread, running cold down the back of his spine in a panic that superseded hyperventilating and went straight to bodily shut down, feeling a chill wash over him that made his head spin and his heart stop dead in his chest. He’d done it. He’d embarrassed himself beyond redemption. He would have to quit his job, ditch his flat, leave the city and abandon his car in a ditch somewhere alongside the road, rather than face Victor again. The word ‘penis’ reran through his brain, mocking and cruel and-

Victor laughed.

Yuuri’s eyes snapped open.

The director’s gaze was light and sparkling, eyelashes fluttering and cheeks dashed with the faintest pink that complimented his pale skin so beautifully it stole Yuuri’s breath away the moment he’d sucked it into his lungs.

“This is really good coincidentally,” Victor said, holding another small square of cake he’d cut himself from the tin, still chewing. “Moist.”

Yuuri’s mouth turned to sandpaper. “Moist?”

Victor’s eyes glinted, tongue darting out to catch the stray crumbs caught on his lips. He nodded once, holding Yuuri’s eye.

“Moist.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That word that everyone loves.
> 
> Moist.
> 
> Speaking of bakes, check out [little-burnt-marshmallow](http://little-burnt-marshmallow.tumblr.com/). Their bakes are awesome! I’m so jealous. I’ve been staring at their macrons for ages in longing <3
> 
> (**Baking tip – this is genuinely the secret to my famous banana and chocolate chip loaf I make for my office. Flaccid penis texture bananas. Don't tell.)


	27. Office Visitors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Paw-sivi- tea

When Yuuri got back from his lunch time walk, he expected just to buzz back into the building, take the elevator up to his floor, get back at his desk and go about his business without so much as batting an eyelid at the solid routine. It never changed. Yuuri could get from door to desk with his eyes shut by now. He knew exactly which elevator was always on the bottom floor, knew the exact height to hold up his ID card for it to catch the chip that would buzz him in, could walk the path through the office back to his desk in his sleep… it was just the way he liked it, pleasantly predictable.

Until it wasn’t.

The man stumbling out of a taxi in a sharp suit and little wheelie travel case shattered Yuuri’s routine like a wrecking ball.

He was red in the face, eyes round and staring up at the tall building in front of him like it was the hangman’s scaffold, a few strands of his gelled back hair flopping forward over his sharp black glasses. He didn’t move to go in. He just … stood there.

Yuuri couldn’t just leave him.

“Um,” he paused as he passed the man, ID pass already in hand to buzz him into the building like it always was when he normally stepped under the entrance archway. “Can I help you?”

The poor guy jumped at Yuuri’s voice, looking startled at being spoken to. Yuuri was surprised. Most guys in sharp suits held an air of confidence about them - deserved or not, older than Yuuri or not - but this one looked ready to faint if Yuuri so much as blew on him. Yuuri found it oddly reassuring. Maybe it was the guy's first day. Maybe he had an interview.

Yuuri didn’t know.

But he was happy to help him out.

“H-hi,” the man tried to smile, trying - and failing - to be casual. Yuuri appreciated he was trying though. “I’m Sam Fosdick,” he said in a rush. “I’m here to do the Director.”

Yuuri’s face froze like he’d been slapped.

 _Here to do the …_ Victor? Victor was a Director. Yuuri’s thoughts went wild, heart suddenly beating a little faster in his chest and lips pursing ever so slightly.

“What?”

Yuuri didn’t mean for his tone to come out so curt… but he couldn’t quite bring himself to feel sorry for it the more the man’s words bounced around his head, stroking his irritation higher and higher.

Who _was_ he anyway?

A new employee? An old boyfriend of Victor’s here to say hi? It wasn’t Victor’s current boyfriend, was it? He hadn’t said anything about a new boyfriend - not that he had to run that stuff by Yuuri, of course, but Yuuri had just thought -

“Shit-”

Sam Fosdick dropped his face into his hands in horror, Yuuri just catching the way he paled white before dropping the handle of his travel case to the ground with a _clack_ to face palm.

“I, er,” the poor guy was obviously nervous as hell. “I mean, I’m here to do the, um, tax assessment with the director.” He pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket with fumbling fingers, pushing his glasses further up his nose as he glanced down at it. “ With Victor? Mr Nikiforov. Definitely that. Not, um... _do_ the director. That would be, er...”

Yuuri just stared.

Cogs whirred in his head, trying to make sense of the situation. This man … wasn’t here for Victor? Well, he was - but he wasn’t here _for_ Victor.

Yuuri pushed out a slow breath, pushing down the tidal wave of irritation that had swelled up inside him that he vowed never to confess to anybody. It wasn’t his fault, he wanted to defend himself with, feeling his cheeks heat up with the embarrassment of the misunderstanding. His reaction was just as bad as the blunder itself.

“Um,” Yuuri struggled to remember how words worked, brain cells clicking back together. He turned back to the building, buzzing his ID card over the scanner. The door clicked open. “S-sure, I’ll let him know you’re here.”

He held the door open for Sam and guided him to the waiting area in the reception, pretending he didn’t see the way the guy nervously straightened his suit jacket or smooth his hair back.

Yuuri just smirked as he turned his back, trotting up the stairs to Victor’s office with a smugness he couldn’t quite explain. If the guy was nervous around Yuuri, he was going to be an absolute mess when he met Victor.

“You’ll _want_ to do the director by the time you’re done,” Yuuri muttered to himself knowingly, glimpsing Sam nervously loosen his tie on the floor below.


	28. Office Visitors Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A continuation of the Sam-scapades, back by popular demand. Kind of Captain_Winter's prompt too:  
> "I can totally see the "accidental" slip up, where one of them trips and papers get scattered all over the place, the other notices and immediately comes to their aid. Their hands "accidentally" touch. So cute."

Yuuri was so glad when he found out Sam and Victor’s meeting was in the meeting room right across his office, Yuuri sneaking a glance through the glass wall every now and then and smirking smugly.

He watched Sam drop his papers.

He watched Sam walk into the edge of the desk.

He watched Sam turn an extensive shade of beetroot that even Yuuri hadn’t ever quite mastered as he visible stammered over his words.

All the while Victor sat calmly across the meeting table, leaned back in his chair and arms folded coolly over his chest. His expression never changed, chiselled into polite but unmistakable boredom over his hansom features. No wonder Sam was intimidated, Yuuri thought, his startled eyes meeting Yuuri’s through the glass wall every time he fumbled.

 

* * *

 

Two hours into the meeting, Victor called a break. He needed a change of scenery other than just Mr Fosdick bubbling over his figures and his darting eyes continuously getting distracted by something outside the meeting room. He didn’t understand – the guy was perfectly fine when Victor had met him in reception, calm and collected… and then as soon as they’d gotten into the office itself, he’d just crumbled. It was starting to annoy Victor. Maybe he should change the room for the next half of the meeting…

He didn’t care if Mr Fosdick heard his disappointed sigh as he stood up, rolling his shoulders back and stretching his stiff arms. He needed a walk, to stretch his legs too.

Mr Fosdick all but bolted out the door before Victor had even straightened up out of his chair.

Victor didn’t watch him go.

At least, not until he heard the crash from outside the doorway.

“Oh my God!” Victor recognised Sam’s frantic voice wafting in from the office, rolling his eyes already in fresh irritation. “I’m so sorry, I-”

Victor took two steps, saw Sam red faced and sweating into his collar at the doorway in front of a horrified looking Yuuri. Yuuri’s arms were outstretched, a pile of papers scattered wildly on the floor.

Victor could piece together what happened.

Yuuri pressed his lips together in an irritated pout, lips pink and luscious, while his eyelashes fluttered, clearly trying to keep his temper though it was just so _cute-_

“I-I’m sorry!” Mr Fosdick stumbled – before he was stumbling _back_. He was running away!

Victor stood there, not sure if he should be more horrified or offended watching the man make a hasty retreat, leaving Yuuri alone in his mess of papers. Even when Yuuri’s eyes turned to meet his – confused and irritated at the same time – Victor still hadn’t made his mind up.

Victor just sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Here, let me help you.”

It was the least he could do.

His arms reached out wider than Yuuri’s when he crouched down amongst the mess, scooping the clutter between them for Yuuri’s nimble fingers to sort them into straight piles.

“You’re intimidating him,” Yuuri said quietly, not looking up.

“Me?!” Victor blinked with a start. He hadn’t expected that... “I don’t know what had him so distracted but I doubt it’s me. He was fine when I first met him.”

“Oh, really?” Yuuri frowned. “He was flustered when I met him at the door so I just assumed...”

Victor shook his head, gaze dropping back down to their task. He wasn’t sure what was on Mr Fosdick’s mind, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t him. There hadn’t been an issue when they’d met in the lobby. The presentation-side shouldn’t be anything new to the guy either. Victor wasn’t sure what it was, something since stepping into that meeting room ruining his tax evaluation with Mr Fosdick’s ebbing concentration.

“Something’s got him distracted.” Victor muttered, eyes rolling. If this was what Sam was going to be like for the rest of the meeting then it was going to be a long day…

Yuuri glanced up, lips flickering in a smile.

Victor didn’t watch where his hands went.

He didn’t see his hand accidentally cover Yuuri’s over the papers, but he _felt_ it – watching Yuuri’s smile stutter before his eyes and feeling the warmth of the clerk’s hand beneath his palm. His fingers twitched, unintentionally running gently over Yuuri’s knuckles. Victor froze, feeling his heart stop in his chest. He couldn’t take his hand away. Yuuri’s skin felt soft and smooth to the touch, Victor able to feel every knuckle, every dip and grove in Yuuri’s delicate hand as he knelt there, paralysed.

His brain turned to mush, feeling the blush creep over his cheeks, holding Yuuri’s soft hand over the papers, and staring into round bottomless coffee-hued eyes…

Suddenly, Victor knew exactly what had Sam distracted, figuring out just whose desk was directly in the guy’s line of sight during the meeting.

It all made sense now.

“I-I-” Victor couldn’t remember what he was supposed to be saying. “I’ve got to go.”

He caught Yuuri’s face drop just a heartbeat before he straightened up and whipped his hand away from Yuuri’s, turning on his heel just a fraction of a second before the full red heat of his embarrassment flamed over his cheeks. He wasn’t proud of it.

He all but fled to the bathroom, head down and avoiding eye contact with everyone he passed, not stopping until his hands met the rim of the sink basin and he was staring at his own flushed reflection in the mirror. He barely even noticed the man beside him, too lost in the thump of his own heartbeat in his chest and the blood pounding in his ears to care.

“You too, huh?” Sam rasped beside him.

Victor pulled in a shaky breath. “Yeah.”

He had nothing clever to say, nothing dignified to defend himself with. He had nothing. Just a mind numbing crush that had brought him to his knees.

Victor barely heard the door thud behind him.

He caught the flash of tall blonde fill the corner of his eye though at the next mirror, the unmistakable flush of pink cheeks and round eyes.

“What’s wrong with you?” Sam asked, still a little breathless.

Christophe just gulped.

“Yuuri was bent over…”

“Ah,” Sam and Victor both said in unison.

 

* * *

 

Phichit just sniggered quietly to himself from his desk, watching the whole fiasco unfold. “Katsudon Fatale strikes again…”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't seen on my Tumblr:  
> 1\. You're missing out on some quality content ;)  
> 2\. Check out this awesome art that was drawn by [pushist00](http://pushist00.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Sorry, yesterdays update is a day late. I kind of had too much gin and, um... *mumble* fell asleep. My bad xD


	29. Collective Punishment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For [capricorniohash](https://capricorniohash.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr

 Victor sighed, running a hand through his hair as he leaned back against the meeting room wall and rolled his eyes. He didn’t need this today. He didn’t need any of it.

He wasn’t even sure why he was there. Yakov had instructed him to hold a meeting to address the _‘issue’_ but honestly, a memo would have done the trick. An updated contract via email. A reminder of the rules via a group wide message. That was all that was needed really… but no, Yakov wanted Victor to deal with it in person in the most awkward way possible.

“So,” he said to clear the silence, unfolding his arms from his chest and folding them behind his back as he straightened up from the wall, trying to look somewhat more interested in this meeting than he actually was.

Five pairs of curious, blank expressions stared back at him.

Victor hadn’t put the subject of the meeting in the e-invite he’d sent out yesterday afternoon. He hadn’t seen the point. It wouldn't make the whole thing any less awkward...

“It’s come to my attention that the attention in the office has been somewhat…” he rocked his head from side to side, searching for the right word. God, he really should have run through what he wanted to say... “ _Divided.”_

Stares turned into frowns. Except Chris - he just down right smirked, obviously delighting in Victor’s awkwardness.

Victor would have words later.

For now though - “Phones,” was all he said.

It was all he needed to say. Eyes widened across the room and heads begrudgingly nodded - no one was surprised obviously, Victor noted with interest. Maybe this had been longer coming than he’d thought.

Not that he really cared honestly.

The work got done and to a high standard, and that was what mattered to him. Anything else wasn’t his problem as long as it didn’t breach any codes of conduct or confidentiality laws.

Free time in the office was nothing new after all. If invoices didn’t get sent to them, there was little to process. If no emails got sent to their mailbox, there was nothing to reply to. Reconciliations and checks only took up so much time. Victor accepted it. Some weeks were busier than others. He understood - and he didn’t expect his staff to just sit there wasting their time while it was quiet. Most of them studied. Some went on Facebook. Most of it was harmless, subtle…

But even Victor appreciated that watching a movie on a mobile phone on top of a keyboard was pushing it a little far.

Especially when the auditors were in.

It didn’t look good.

“Phones need to be off desks and away at all times in the office from now on. Calls should go through your work phones, which all have individual numbers. There is no need to have phones out on desks during work hours.”

It wasn’t unreasonable, Victor thought… but it was exaggerated. Holding a meeting made it all so much more of an issue than it needed to be. It was one mistake too obvious after all, but that was it. A small correction needed to be made. Not a disciplinary. Not an office wide intervention. God only knew why Yakov was making him do this…

Yurio’s arm stuck up in the arm, snatching up Victor’s attention.

“No can do,” he said bluntly. “My grandpa isn’t well and I need to be able to answer my phone if he calls.”

Victor rubbed his fingers over his eyes and sighed. Of course, if anybody was going to be awkward about this it would be Yurio… “Could he not call your work phone?”

“I’d rather he get to me directly.”

Victor sighed again.

It wasn’t his rule, he wanted to yell. He didn’t care, he didn’t have a problem, it wasn’t him that was trying to make their lives awkward… but he had to deliver the message, so of course it was his fault. He could feel Yurio glaring daggers into him long before he opened his eyes again, miserable and bitter.

“Certain circumstances can be taken into consideration,” Victor conceded, knowing that Yakov would not agree if he were here, but screw it.

Yakov didn’t need to know everything.

Christophe’s hand went up next. “I’m guessing this doesn’t apply to company mobile phones, right?”

“Wrong,” Victor said, distinctly remembering that section from the instructions Yakov had sent him of the new phone policy. “It does. Set the ringer on and you should be able to hear it from inside your drawer.”

He totally agreed with the twisted look Chris gave him. He’d hate it too. It was pointless, and stupid, and-

“You have your mobile out all day - both work _and_ personal you hypocrite!”

A nerve in Victor’s jaw jumped.

“Look the phone doesn’t need to be banished,” he said, snapping. “They just can’t stay out on desks. They can stay in drawers, pockets, whatever, you can still check them when you need to - just don’t leave them out on your desk all day for the world to see. Stick it under a bit of paper and we’ll be fine.”

What Yakov didn’t know would wouldn’t hurt him, Victor decided. When there were no auditors or superiors to rat them out, he’d never know. They’d just have to be a bit more watchful, a bit more considerate.

Those kind of new rules never stuck long anyway.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess who was watching the King and the Skater at his desk. I wonder who it was ;)....
> 
> They’ve tried this mobile ban in our office so many times. I think we’re on our third meeting that should have been a memo about this. Lol, good luck, boss. Not happening.


	30. Katsu-DAAAAYMN!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Laronia

“It’s not funny, Phichit.”

“It so is! It’s  _ hilarious! _ ”

Yuuri’s cheeks burned shamefully as he kept his eyes glued to his computer, absolutely  _ refusing _ to look across at Phichit’s shit eating grin.

Sam Fosdick’s business card sat beside Yuuri’s keyboard – with the phone number circled in black pen and a shaky smiley face drawn beside it.

“He must have meant for me to give it to Victor,” Yuuri reasoned aloud. “Of course, he did. He must have-”

“Yuuri,” Phichit cut off firmly. “I watched them exchange business cards in the meeting room when on Fosdick’s first visit. So did you! It’s definitely not for Victor.”

Yuuri just stared at his spreadsheet, mouth impossibly dry.

Then, he cracked. “But… but how-”

His head dropped into his hands, eyes scrunched shut and cheeks on fire. It couldn’t be. It couldn’t possibly be-

“Yuuri, the guy was all over you…”

Yuuri groaned into his fingers. “You’re wrong,” he said, words blurred from under his hands. “You’re so, so wrong…”

“Yuuri, half the  _ department  _ is all over you!”

Yuuri peeked out through his fingers, glaring across the desk at his best friend. He couldn’t believe Phichit was doing this to him…

“They are not,” he bit back.

Phichit just smirked.

“So you think that Christophe walks up two floors to give you a one page document instead of emailing because he needs the exercise?”

“Phichit…”

“And I supposed Yurio sits at our lunch table without any lunch instead of going to his café because he likes the cafeteria décor?”

“Phichit-”

“And I suppose JJ – who is supposed to be  _ straight _ by the way – comes up every other day to chat and check the printer by your desk and none of the others in the office because of course-”

“Alright, alright!”

Yuuri ran his hands through his hair, leaning back in his chair as a breathless sigh punched out of him, eyes wide. They definitely weren’t focusing on the spreadsheet anymore, his freight file long forgotten. He’d just … never noticed like that…

“Face it, Yuuri,” Phichit went on with a shrug. “Everyone wants to go out with you.”

Yuuri’s head was spinning. _ But… but why… _

He hadn’t realised he’d said it out loud.

“You’re a lot hotter than you think,” Phichit said without a hint of hesitation, tone deadly serious.

Yuuri just stared at him. “You… you think?”

It couldn’t be him, he told himself. There must be some other Yuuri or another reason that everyone was talking to him but it certainly couldn’t be that they thought he was hot.  _ Him? Hot?  _ It just didn’t make sense. It was beyond a joke, just impossible. Yuuri was plain, and boring, and chubby, and-

“Yuuri, don’t take this the wrong way,” Phichit’s eyes rolled his way. “But I  _ so _ didn’t jump you at that first college party because I got a hard on from your personality. You’re hot. Seriously hot.”

“Oh my God…”

Yuuri didn’t know what to say.

His hand clapped over his mouth, fingertips running down his face and slipping off his chin back down to the desk. They landed right next to Mr Fosdick’s business card.

Yuuri  _ really _ didn’t need to be reminded of that right now…

_ “It’s raining men!” _

Yuuri jumped in his seat in time to the drum beat suddenly blaring from Phichit’s phone beside him, heart in his mouth-

_ “Hallelujah, it’s raining men-” _

Yuuri’s eyes shot wide as he nearly fell out of his chair in shock, scrambling at Phichit’s phone on the desktop while his best friend cackled.

“ _ Amen _ !”

“Oh my God, Phichit!” Yuuri hissed under his breath, colour that had once flooded his cheeks now draining away with horror. “Turn that  _ off _ !”

It wouldn’t work – the stupid volume button wouldn’t work on Phichit’s phone no matter how much Yuuri attacked it, begging for it to  _ shut up  _ before even more eyes popped up over their desks across the office to see what was going on. God, Yuuri was going to  _ die _ ! He needed a new best friend, someone less embarrassing, less loud-

The phone finally clicked silent.

Yuuri could hear his heartbeat in his ears as the quiet descended, flushed, and embarrassed, and wishing he could be absolutely anywhere else in that moment. 

He could feel people staring, judging. Phichit really was the worst, Yuuri grinding his teeth bitterly as he thought of all the ways he could get his best friend back for this. He didn’t even have anything else to say anymore.

Well, except-

“And I already have my man…” he muttered grumpily under his breath.

He didn’t notice Victor walking by until he heard the thud of the director striding head long into the printer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The phone ban from last chapter obviously didn’t last long… xD
> 
> Right, so I have a favour to ask. More like a public survey.
> 
> Topic: Victor's daydream
> 
> Question - what should it be? ;) 
> 
> Post your interesting or creative responses below... or just say hi ^-^


	31. Jealousy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Specs, puszke, loviv, and everyone else who called for Victor misunderstanding what Yuuri said xD

Victor was in a bad mood. He couldn’t help it, cheek sat heavily on his fist and pressing the keys of his laptop too hard with each hard jab of his finger like they had personally offended him. He wasn’t even concentrating on what he was typing anymore, just relishing the irritated, harsh sound of the keys pounding the pad underneath. It matched his mood, bitter and irked.

“Two sugars, right, Yuuri?” he heard the downstairs intern - Ken-something - call over his shoulder, striding past his desk to the kitchen in a streak of blonde and red hair.

His smile was too wide, too happy.

It only made Victor’s mood worse.

“Yeah,” Yuuri smiled back from his desk across the office, all blinding, and beautiful, and-

 _Stop_ , Victor told himself, pressing his eyes shut and running fingers over his temples. He couldn’t think things like that. He _couldn’t_ , it just wasn’t right.

Yuuri’s words from the other day just rocked round and round in his head, driving him wild. He couldn’t forget them, couldn’t stop thinking about them no matter how much he tried. It wasn’t fair, Victor pouted at his screen, miserable and disappointed. He almost wished he’d never listed, never been drawn in out of curiosity to know what was causing that adorable red flush on Yuuri’s cheeks…

But he had, and he couldn’t take it back. He groaned quietly, letting his head fall. He wanted to be anywhere else in that moment.

He’d started to notice things.

Smiles.

The odd word.

Favours.

Jokes and teases that brought the prettiest blush out on Yuuri’s cheeks and made Victor irritated beyond reason, hating every second. It wasn’t that he hated Yuuri being happy - he just hated that it wasn’t thanks to _him_. He wanted to be that guy, that man…

_“I’ve already got my man…”_

Victor groaned and dropped his face in his hands, breathing through his fingers. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, those few words that had sent his world spiralling into the gutter.

All the while, the intern had come up a whole floor just to make Yuuri a cup of tea. Victor didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit…

He was just wondering if it would be out of order to report the boy to HR for distracting his staff or discriminating for only making tea for Yuuri and no one else - or something equally ridiculous - when someone else equally as irritating walked past.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Victor grumbled over his shoulder, just loud enough to be heard.

The footsteps stopped.

JJ glanced back, brow furrowing. “To … check the printer?” It sounded more like a question than a solid statement. “It’s Friday…”

 _The printer by Yuuri’s desk_ …Victor pieced it together, not liking the bigger picture it pulled into place. His eyes narrowed, lips pursing ever so slightly as he straightened up in his chair and flicked his bangs out of his eyes like he didn’t care.

 _He did_.

“It’s worked fine for the last two years,” he said bluntly, turning back to his laptop curtly. “I’m pretty sure it will survive one more day. Go back to your desk.”

“But-”

Victor stopped listening, setting for brutalising his keyboard some more in his moody solitude. _It wasn’t fair_ , he thought. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fai-

A flash of blonde caught his eye, more dangerous than the first.

Victor didn’t even need to turn his head to recognise this one - “Chris, will you _please_ stop harassing my staff?” his eyes rolled, beyond _done_ with today and not in the mood for his best friend’s antics. He just didn’t have the patience. Not today.

He heard his best friends steps stutter on their path beside his desk, crossing the office… right towards Yuuri’s desk.

“What?”

He sounded shocked.

Victor guessed he should be - Victor never snapped at Chris, never spoke down to him even though he was _technically_ more senior than him, but he never had because he never needed to until now-

“You could email that document up to Yuuri,” he spat out, every word stiff and forced… and spoken to his laptop screen rather than looking his friend in the eye. “There’s no reason for you to come up here every day for that one thing.”

There.

He’d said it, feeling the tension thickening the air in a heartbeat and feeling the way his friend _stared_ at him, practically seeing the way his eyebrows rose sassily towards his hairline.

“Actually, this is something new for Phichit. He asked me to come and explain to him when I had a moment.”

Victor flushed ruby.

_Oh._

He didn’t look away from his laptop screen, too humiliated to meet his friend’s gaze or face the redness burning over his cheeks. He wanted to ignore it, wished Christophe would go away and let this whole encounter start over again…

… of course, his best friend wouldn’t let him do that, Victor flinching as he heard the squeak of a chair being dragged closer.

“What’s the matter with you?” Christophe asked, plonking himself down. “Problems with Yuuri?”

Victor physically winced.

His eyes dropped down to his keyboard, fingers fumbling awkwardly for something to do. “I don’t want to talk about Yuuri.”

“So it is?”

Victor rolled his eyes, big and dramatic. He hoped his façade hid his cracked heart. “Chris,” he said bluntly, gaze deadpan. “Please.”

He wasn’t in the mood.

Of course, Christophe just smirked, eyes sparkling. “Someone sounds a little jealous…”

That twanged a nerve, Victor feeling the wave of irrational irritation crest dangerously wild. It took everything he had to keep his jaw clenched shut against the torrent of bitter protests threatening to burst from his lips, knowing how desperate and pathetic they would sound.

Okay, maybe he was a little jealous, Victor conceded silently to himself, vowing never to let those words actually pass his lips in Christophe’s presence.

But who could blame him?

Yuuri was taken.

People were still fawning for his attention so obviously Victor wondered how he hadn’t seen it before.

And Yuuri’s _man...._

Of course, he was upset.

“Do you have no shame?” he just hissed at Christophe, offended as genuinely as he could be. _For Yuuri’s sake_ , he told himself if nothing else. “The guy’s got a boyfriend...”

Christophe’s brow dipped at that. “What? Yuuri doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

“Yes,” Victor insisted. “He does.”

Victor had _heard_ him. He knew.

Christ just tilted his head, looking at Victor like he was crazy. “No... he doesn’t.” His head shook slowly. “I’m pretty tight with Phichit. If Yuuri had a boyfriend-” a smug look washed over his best friend’s face as he leaned back in his chair, doing _nothing_ for Victor’s mood. “Trust me, I’d know about it.”

Victor's heart stopped.

“B-but…”

But Victor had _heard_ him. _I already have my man_ … that’s what Yuuri had said. Victor had heard it, clear as day...

“Where did you hear that?” Chris scoffed a laugh.

“I …” Victor was stunned, eyes blinking wide as he reran every word, every look - _everything._ If Chris was right… “I overheard him say he has a man…”

He’d definitely heard that. But if Yuuri didn’t have a boyfriend… then who was the man? A crush? Someone close? Someone Victor knew? Perhaps there was someone he liked? What if they were in this very office? Yuuri didn’t seem to have much of a social life to meet someone out in public…

It took a few moment’s for him to blink out of his thoughts and notice Chris just… staring. At _him_.

Then his best friend’s head shook.

“You’re lucky you’re pretty…” he sighed.

Victor had barely blinked before Chris was pushing up from his chair and striding past with an encouraging clap on the shoulder, wrenching Victor back to reality. It took a moment for his best friend’s words to sink in… and when they did, Victor was twisting round in his chair, eyes round and alight.

_Did he… he couldn’t mean -_

“Christophe, what do you mean?” he called across the office, not caring who heard anymore. “Christophe!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone gets it... except Victor xD
> 
> I did not expect so many responses for Victor's day dream, honestly I could make a mini series of its own of just those prompts xD  
> I have now made a spreadsheet to organise it all *w*
> 
> I kind of feel obliged to spin out the option for any suggestions for any more Yuuri daydreams people want to see, you know to balance it out.
> 
> If you send in a prompt, I do see it. I do log it. But ... I have a lot xD I haven't even finishing cataloguing all the Victor day dream ones and I've already got over thirty prompts in my list to write for this fic. So please be patient and yours will be written eventually. Feel free to ask me for a check up if you want to double check I haven't forgotten. I don't want anyone to feel, you know, forgotten.
> 
> And please don't think this is a winge. I LOVE your prompts, I really do. So please don't stop sending them. I love writing this not-so-little series <3


	32. Cafe Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For ayawanderlust:
> 
> "aww so sweeet! why not make them go out to cafe for lunch"

“Yuuri, I need to speak to you about something. Why don’t we got to the café down the street and discuss it over lunch?”

Victor was pathetic.

Disguising asking Yuuri out on a date by making it a _work_ _meeting_ , not sure if he’d have the bottle to approach it honestly. It shouldn’t be so hard for him to ask. He didn’t even have to ask it as a date! Just _‘Yuuri, would you like to have lunch with me?’_ would do, would be enough to get Yuuri on his own for some casual one to one time outside of work. It shouldn’t be so hard…

Instead, what spilled out of Victor’s mouth was some rubbish about some new process they needed to discuss and how lunch was the only time he had free in his schedule that day.

He thanked the gods above when Yuuri said yes.

Victor spent the whole short walk down the road to the cosy little café mulling it over, wondering what had possessed him to make something to simple so difficult. He was an idiot. Chris always seemed to say it, but now Victor was starting to think he was onto something…

He held the door open for Yuuri when they got there, the clerk shooting him a shy smile and glancing up at him through his eyelashes. It was unfairly pretty.

“What would you like, Yuuri?” Victor asked when they got to the counter, sounding calmer than he felt. His rattling nerves were caged to his madly thumping heart then, voice as smooth and fair as ever. “Coffee? Cake?”

He knew Yuuri had a sweet tooth.

Yuuri just ducked his head shyly beside him though, a dash of pink grazing his cheeks. “Um, j-just tea, thank you.”

Victor didn’t argue. He didn’t really trust his mouth yet, wasn’t confident the words formed in his brain would make it to his lips unaltered with adrenalin and nerves pumping through his system. He needed a deep breath. He needed to calm down. He needed coffee.

He ordered their drinks and a Danish for himself, bringing the tray to their table. Yuuri sat down stiffly.

“So,” Yuuri stirred sugar into his tea with his eyes low. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

For a second, Victor just stared. It took longer than he was proud of for the words to connect in his head, for the statement to make sense… and then his eyes were blinking wide, brain waves spiralling out of control.

“Um…” _Of course_ … he’d told Yuuri this was a work meeting… “I can’t remember.”

Victor shrugged and fluttered his eyelashes, hoping that his internal screaming didn’t show on the outside as he picked up his coffee and blew over the top. He needed to look cool.

Yuuri just blinked. “You ... can’t remember?”

“Hm,” Victor hummed, talking a sip of his drink.

Yuuri’s eyebrows quirked sceptically.

“Okay…” he said slowly, dragging the sound out. “Should we go back to the office then?”

Victor nearly spat out the coffee in alarm, brain instantly screaming _red alert, red alert, red alert-_

“After lunch,” he said, voice miraculously unshaken. “We’re not in that much of a hurry, are we?”

His voice squeaked a little at the end. He hoped Yuuri didn’t notice…

Yuuri just shifted uncomfortably in his chair, colour on his cheeks darkening and eyes shifting away shyly. “I don’t want to waste your lunch break…”

Victor’s breath caught. Oh, he was so sweet, so cute… no wonder Victor was helpless around him.

“And what if I said I wanted to have my lunch with you?” he said, more breathlessly than he would have liked.

Yuuri’s cheeks dusted pink. “Oh, um… okay.”

He sipped his tea shyly, fingers holding the cup too tightly and eyes flickering up around Victor like he was scared to look at the director for too long in one place. Victor guessed it couldn’t be blamed. It wasn’t like meetings with ones boss in a café was a normal situation. Yuuri was bound to feel awkward. His long eyelashes fanned out over his cheeks as he looked down, sipping his drink through plush pink lips that Victor couldn’t stop staring at.

“How do you like working for me, Yuuri?” he found himself asking, eyes still transfixed on the clerk’s mouth.

Yuuri’s eyes flickered up at the question, all round, shimmering orbs of a dark brown that matched his strong tea.

“It’s good,” he smiled as he set his cup down, honest and genuine. Victor was glad to see him relax a little. “You’re a great boss.”

Victor glowed inside, heart swelling proudly in his chest. “And how’s your work-life balance?” he asked, propping an elbow on the table top and his chin interestedly in his palm. “I thought I heard Phichit say you didn’t get out much. I hope that’s not because of me…”

Yuuri’s smile slipped ever so slightly.

“O-oh, no,” he stammered, “I’m just not into going out much. I like staying at home.”

“You’ll never find anyone like that though…”

“I, um…” Yuuri blushed _red_. “I don’t really want to find anyone at the moment. I kind of,” his fingers played with his napkin, carefully tearing apart the tissue piece by piece. “Um… t-there’s someone that I…”

Victor didn’t notice himself lean closer - eyes widening and heart beating wildly in his chest – until he could pick out the different shades of coffee and caramel colours swirling in Yuuri’s eyes. Yuuri’s red cheeks were adorable, napkin by his teacup in tatters by the time he took a deep breath to steady himself.

“I mean…” Yuuri’s Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed thickly. “I already … _like_ someone.”

Victor wasn’t sure if it was coincidence or fate that had Yuuri’s eyes flicker up to his at that last word, catching his gaze effortlessly in a sea of molten chocolate, but he melted at it all the same, brain cells turning to mush.

And when Yuuri’s lips quirked shyly in the corner…

“What about you?” suddenly broke through Victor’s thoughts in Yuuri’s smooth voice. “Do you have someone?”

Those long, dark eyelashes fluttered up at him and Victor’s tongue darted out to wet his suddenly dry lips, straightening up in his chair. It took another minute for him to remember how words worked.

“No,” he said, running a hand through his hair and trying to gather back his cool composure. It was just a question. He could answer questions. “I never really found the time for love. I was always too busy studying and working. My mother was always hoping I’d meet someone but ...” he sighed, remembering all the nagging phone calls he’d used to have with his mother about when she would get any grandchildren. “I never did.”

Yuuri’s lips pouted ever so slightly, eyes round and sympathetic. “It must be lonely…”

Victor just shrugged.

He hadn’t ever minded until recently. He couldn’t miss what he’d never had and honestly, he’d been too busy to worry about romance when he was young. Now though… now he’d found someone that gave him butterflies in his stomach again…

“A lot of people meet their future partners at work.”

Victor jolted in his seat, taking an extra minute for Yuuri’s words to sink in when - “ _Oh…_ really?” He raised his eyebrows ever so slightly. Where was Yuuri going with this?

Yuuri shrugged. “There’s Chris.”

Victor scrunched a face in a heartbeat.

“He’s my best friend. I couldn’t. We’re just… no.” He appreciated all the hook-ups when they were young and teenagers … but no, he and Christophe would never be more than just friends.

“Georgi?”

“Too dramatic.”

Yuuri smirked, lips hovering a millimetre away from his teacup. “Says the guy who came in late because it took him two hours to get the right flick to his bangs?”

Victor blushed - _hard_.

He recovered quickly though, clearing his throat and sitting up a little straighter in his chair. It was fine, he told himself. He was fine, he was fine, play it cool…

“They do look fabulous though, no?” he said with a twinkle in his eye, brushing said beautifully flicked bangs back from over his eye to graze over his cheekbone with an elegant glide of his fingers.

“Very,” Yuuri agreed with a twinkling eye, sparkling beautifully. “I love your hair. It always looks so soft…”

“It is,” Victor beamed, delighted. “See!”

He reached out before he could stop himself, fingers snagging Yuuri’s off the table and threading them up to his hair, combing them through the silver strands at the side of his head. He felt his silky soft hair fall over their intertwined fingers, felt the warmth of Yuuri’s palm a millimetre away from his cheek….

Yuuri’s breath hitched quietly, and Victor suddenly snapped back to the present, realising the position he’d put them in…. he couldn’t bring himself to take his hand away though, staring deep into Yuuri’s round, glistening eyes.

God, they were beautiful.

“You should tell that guy you like him.” Victor felt suddenly breathless. “You never know … he might like you back.”


	33. Office Weirdos

“So, as long as you make sure you delete the lines rather than just clear them, the balance should always reconcile to the ledger. Got it?”

Yuri got it.

He sat beside Otabek at his desk, watching how Otabek reconciled the clearing account with glazed over eyes and a wandering mind… but he listened to every word Otabek said like he was reciting Shakespeare. He couldn’t help it. He hated the job, but he had a deep running respect for the man that he worked with, smart, focussed… and with brooding eyes to die for.

But he had no attention span for Victor’s clearing account. It wasn’t that he couldn’t reconcile the account. He could – he just couldn’t be bothered.

He glared at the space across the office where Victor usually sat, JJ currently occupying the desk while he fixed the monitor stand that Yuri had loosened so the screen would drop and that Victor had full on broken when he’d tried - and failed - to fix it. He couldn’t help but smirk. It was almost too easy...

“Where’s that idiot gone anyway?” Yuri wondered aloud. It felt like Victor had been on the longest lunch break in history.

Otabek didn’t even blink beside him. “He went out with Katsuki.”

_Of course, he had…_

Yuri just groaned, dropping his head into his hands. “Oh God, he’s going to be so much more annoying now. Why did he have to do that?”

“What do you mean?” Otabek frowned.

“Well, either it goes well and he won’t shut up about it or it doesn’t and he won’t shut up about it. He’ll be insufferable either way…”

“I think it’s cute,” Phichit said from over the desk divider, excited eyes poking up over the top from the other side of Otabek’s monitor.

Yuri grimaced. “I think it’s gross.”

“I think it doesn’t have anything to do with the clearing account…” Otabek muttered.

“ _Tsk_.”

Yuri rolled his and leaned back in his chair, hoping Victor would somehow lose his way back to the office and make his life a whole lot easier by just not coming back. He just wasn’t in the mood today; not to watch the way they glanced at each other across the office, or found stupid reasons to talk to each other, or-

“Are you... alright?”

Yuri blinked back to reality, mouth snapping open to Otabek’s tentative question with a dismissive ‘ _yeah, I’m fine, just bored’_ – when he realised Otabek hadn’t been talking to him at all.

More likely to the hulking great figure leaning over Yuuri’s desk instead.

Yuri stared.

He couldn’t help it. The guy was huge! Tall, broad shoulders with short dark and hair and biceps bulging out of a bright yellow hi-vis jacket. His dark – almost glaring – eyes scoured over Yuuri’s desk.

His shoulder moved. Yuri heard the rustle of paper. Was he going through Katsuki’s papers? It wasn’t just Katsuki’s, Yuri realised – a moment later, he straightened up and turned around to Celestino’s desk, giving it the same treatment. He moved slowly between the desks, taking time to look down at what was on each one and lazily shifting some items. Like he was looking for something… Yuri frowned, instincts pricking.

_What the hell…_

Yuri had never seen the guy before. He clearly wasn’t an office worker, with his sweatpants and hi-vis… but who was he?

He shouldn’t be ruffling through the desks unsupervised either way, Yuri was pretty sure, whoever he was. It was the Finance Department! There was potentially sensitive information all over the office and the guy was clearly _looking_ , not just passing through. It sent the hairs on the back of Yuri’s neck lifting in warning - especially when Otabek stiffened too beside him as the man wandered behind them and over to Yuri’s empty desk.

Otabek followed the stranger with wary eyes. Yuri could feel the calm trepidation rolling off his colleague beside him - subtle, but still there - and caught JJ glance up from Victor’s desk across the office.

The guy didn’t look up though, even when he was right next to them…

Up close, he looked even more intimidating; broad shoulders and strong jawline, physique clearly powerful beneath his shoddy dress-sense, and eyes narrowed with a burning, angry look that made Yuri uncomfortable.

He wasn’t afraid - but he also wasn’t stupid… _much_...

“Oi, asshat,” he found himself barking when the man didn’t answer. “He asked you a question.”

The guy didn’t even look up.

Instead, he just continued his unnervingly leisurely graze over Yuri’s desk. Rage welled up inside Yuri in a heartbeat. _If that bastard touched absolutely anything…_

The man’s hand reached for Yuri’s mouse.

“Hey-”

“Don’t talk to me.”

Yuri was almost so surprised the guy had actually talked that he was stunned into silence, eyes blinking wide in shock. _Almost…_

The anger flooded back quickly. Yuuri gritted his teeth, furious. “What the-”

The man’s hand cut through the air so fast that Yuri’s bangs rustled by the side of his face from the gust that spurred up, edge of his palm landing squarely where Yuri’s desk ended and Otabek’s began.

It made Yuri jump.

“This is the line,” he said in a thick Eastern European accent, eyes narrowed and glaring like Yuri had personally keyed his car. He hadn’t… yet. “You do not speak to me over this line. You speak to my supervisor.”

Yuri just stared… and the man stared right back. What the hell was he talking about?

Whatever it was, Yuri wasn’t going to listen. He didn’t listen to his _boss,_ let alone some guy poking around his desk... “What the hell?!” his eyes narrowed. “Listen here, you fuc-”

“Yura.”

That one word.

One quiet word from Otabek beside him and Yuri snapped his head round to his colleague, words dying in his throat. Otabek caught his eye, calm and steady. His head shook once, a short, curt movement. _Don’t,_ it said. Yuri forced himself to bite his tongue, biting back the torrent of abuse he was longing to hurl at the stranger.

He wasn’t sure what Otabek was going to do. If he was doing to say anything to the guy, stare him down, call the supervisor…

He didn’t get a chance to do anything though before the guy slowly straightened up from Yuri’s desk, casting one last lingering glare at Yuri before he slowly turned on his heel. He moved in the same leisurely, unhurried pace he’d arrived in, not looking over his shoulder and frightening a secretary flat against the wall in shock as he passed out of the office floor into the corridor, disappearing out of sight.

Yuri just stared after him, just as confused as he had been a few minutes ago. What the hell had just happened? Even with the guy out of their block of the office, Yuri still felt a shiver of unease, like he was still watching somewhere, those dark, glaring eyes lingering in the back of his mind uneasily.

“Hello?” he heard Phichit say across the desk, phone mushed to his ear. “There’s a guy wandering about up here. No one knows who he is, he was acting really weird…”

Yuri didn’t know who Phichit was on the phone to. He didn’t care, really. He just wanted to know the guy was out of the building and wasn’t coming back. Yuri found himself reaching down to his ID badge, checking to see if his full name had been turned out or hidden in the front of his shirt. There was just something off about the man. What had he been doing? Why had he turned when they’d asked him a simple question? It was just weird.

“I’m going to speak to facilities,” Otabek said without waiting for Phichit to finish his call, standing up from his desk. A part of Yuri wanted to go with him.

By the time he’d decided to though, Otabek was all but gone.

He watched Otabek disappear down the same corridor the man had trailed off through, only mildly relieved when he didn’t hear a thump a few seconds later.

“A cleaner!” Phichit hissed over his desk divider at Yuri, eyes flashing. “Apparently he’s the new cleaner. They sent him up to this floor because he made all the women on the floor below us too uncomfortable.”

Yuri wasn’t surprised. “Can you blame them?”

The guy wasn’t exactly friendly…

Forearms appeared on top of the wall around the edge of Otabek’s desk cubicle and Yuri internally groaned when he lifted up to JJ behind them, cocky grin in place. He wasn’t in the mood.

“That was gutsy, kitten,” JJ said, running a hand _coolly_ through his hair. Yuri thought it looked stupid. “Taking on the mafia guy like that...”

Yuri just stared. “He’s a fucking _cleaner_ , JJ.”

He wasn’t in the mood for JJ’s bullshit.

“You could see from a mile away he was nuts though,” JJ went on anyway though, like Yuri hadn’t said anything at all. “I could tell - I just knew it was all going to kick off.”

“Shut up, JJ.”

JJ blinked, smile slapping off his face.

It flickered back a moment later though, shock washing away to let the arrogance bleed through again. He chuckled - a little stiffly, Yuri thought. “Of course, I totally-”

“I said - shut up.”

If Otabek hadn’t come back at that moment, Yuri wasn’t exactly wholly confident in JJ’s chances of walking out of the office without Yuri’s boot print dug into the side of his face later...

“Apparently, Victor spoke to him the other day,” Otabek said, voice tense. Irritated.

Yuri frowned - Otabek never got irritated. “What the hell did the old geezer say?”

“Apparently, he complained he didn’t clean his desk right and showed him how to do it properly.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake …”

Yuri rolled his eyes. Victor was even more of an idiot that he’d ever bagged him for. What had he been thinking?! Yuri couldn’t quite imagine it. _Victor_ standing up to that huge, stormy, serial killer-looking guy, patronising him on tiny details that didn’t at all concern him… actually, maybe he shouldn’t be so surprised. For the businesses living legend, Victor could be incredibly stupid sometimes...

Yuri turned back to the computer, making a mental note to lay into his moron of a boss whenever he got back from his date. “Well, if he’s not back in an hour we’ll assume the cleaner’s found him and stashed his body in a ditch somewhere.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seriously, all we asked the guy was 'are you okay?' and he just went off on one. It was terrifying. Huge and serial-killer like were not inaccurate descriptions of the dude. He looked like the kind of guy you'd see on the news five years down the line for hiding bodies under his patio. 
> 
> And all because he was looking for my boss who had genuinely patronised him about not being able to clean a desk properly the day before... we were not amused.


	34. Revolving Door

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Wateryli

Walking back to the office went too fast in Victor’s opinion, every step they took marking the precious little time he had left with Yuuri before the real world came knocking again. He should have talked more. He should have sneakily held his hand on the way back. He should have suggested they have a walk around the park before going back. He should have done _more…_

Time was slipping through his fingers, running out fast.

“Thank you for the tea,” Yuuri said beside him, flashing Victor a shy, sweet smile. He tucked an unruly lock of hair behind his ears. “I had a really nice time.”

Victor couldn’t help the way his heart swelled. “Me too.”

He should totally ask Yuuri to more café meetings in the future. Definitely. Every meeting, for every invoice that needed coding, every monthend closing...

He was already searching for the next plausible excuse when Yuuri stopped beside him and Victor blinked back to reality, thoughts running out of his head for a moment. His shoulders slumped in disappointment, groaning silently in his head – they were back at the office. He hadn’t even realised they’d come round the back until the old fashioned revolving door at the back of the building stared back at him, the only part of the fancy establishment the company had decided not to invest in any upgrade for.

At least it would be discrete… _ish_ …

“After you,” Victor waved, nodding forward to the clunky old turnstile. With its thick black frames it didn’t do anything to blend in with the rest of the building’s chic style.

Yuuri’s head just shook though. “No, no, you first.”

“No, you.”

“Please…”

“No, I insist…”

Victor stepped forward… then Yuuri did and Victor skidded to a halt. Yuuri did the same, eyes flashing round in apology. They were both hopeless, Victor thought.

He flashed Yuuri an awkward smile, chuckling quietly. He didn’t want this date to end. Not really – he would much rather stay out there with Yuuri and dance forever about who should get in the revolving door first… but it couldn’t go on forever.

Victor stepped forward to close the matter, to take the first compartment.

He noticed Yuuri step out too of the corner of his eye much too late.

The smaller man slipped in front of him half a heartbeat ahead and glanced up with shocked eyes over his shoulder as Victor slotted in behind him unexpectedly, too close, too sudden-

He stumbled forward in shock. Yuuri’s hands fell on the door in front, pushing unintentionally and turning the turnstile, scooping the back wall of glass behind Victor and inadvertently trapping the Russian in behind him, mushed together in the tiny space that was _definitely_ not designed to fit two people.

The air left Victor in a rush, knocked out of his lungs in shock, and confusion, and … something _else_ he couldn’t quite form into words while he was pressed up against Yuuri Katsuki’s behind.

There was next to no space between them. Yuuri was all but pressed against the front wall of the glass and when Victor tipped his hips back a few inches to give Yuuri some space, he hit the back one, knocking him back. His heels were inches away from the back panel, just waiting to be clipped when they eventually moved forward.

He wasn’t quite sure how they were going to shuffle their way out of this…

And then it got worse.

Something _clunked_ above them.

Victor glanced up, horror running through him. “What was that?”

Yuuri didn’t answer.

He just gave the door a shove, heels of his palms pressing hard against the glass. All that he got was another answering _clunk_ from somewhere else in the system. The door though, didn’t budge an inch.

“I-it’s stuck!”

Victor’s heart sank miserably, hearing the strike of panic in Yuuri’s voice. That wasn’t what he wanted, feeling Yuuri go stiff as a board as he leaned back ever so slightly and inadvertently pressed the length of his spine flush with Victor’s chest. It wasn’t how he imagined ending their date, with Yuuri stiff and uncomfortable…

Victor peered through the glass doors into the reception. He couldn’t see the receptionist at the front desk. _Of all the times…_ “Shit,” he muttered.

He didn’t mind being pressed up against Yuri. Not one bit. He’d just imagined it a bit more private; in his bedroom, in Yuuri’s flat, in an empty meeting room with the blinds drawn… not in a see through glass prison. Especially with the way the proximity was affecting, blood fleeing south with every accidental brush against YuurI’s backside. If he wasn’t quick in getting out then it wouldn’t be long before Yuuri would feel his … _something._

A flash of blonde caught his attention from reception and Victor jolted, hopes soaring. “Chris! Chris, over here!”

Victor banged on the glass over Yuuri’s head, watching Chris frown with confusion as he twisted and turned in the reception. It only served to knock his hips into Yuuri’s with each thump more than anything else though, rocking the body in front of him.

He could feel how embarrassed Yuuri must be, tense and no doubt fiery cheeked. Victor made a mental note to apologise later – after they’d been freed.

Christophe’s eyes widened when he saw them, shock registering a moment before… well, before the grin came and his gaze sparkled with mischief.

“My, my,” he smirked, digging hi hands in his pockets and sauntering closer. “Looks like someone had a good time on their lunch da- _break_.”

Victor just glared through the glass. “Are you going to help us or just laugh?”

“Laugh.”

“ _Chris_.”

“Okay, okay,” his best friend chuckled, enjoying himself way too much for Victor’s liking, “I’ll go get help.”

Victor watched him go with a scowl, doing everything in his power to move as little as possible in the meantime. Spooning Yuuri in the revolving door hadn’t exactly been how he’d imagined ending their date.

… he wasn’t entirely disappointed though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate revolving doors. They’re awkward and dodgy … and I can’t stop thinking about that scene in The Walking Dead whenever I see one now >m<


	35. Office "Accidents"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For CorporalLevi_is - 'im just waiting for phichit to be a good wingman and spill some water over Yuuri's white dress shirt in front of Victor "whooops," see Victor short circuiting.'
> 
> Commence thirsty Victor...

“Tell me  _ everything _ !”

“Phichit, there’s nothing to tell…”

“You finally went on a date with Victor and came back spooning in the back door - and to you that’s  _ nothing _ ?!”

“It wasn’t a date! It was just… coffee.  _ Work  _ coffee.”

“Work coff-”

That was as far as Phichit got before he dissolved into a fit of loud, ugly laughter, doubling over and clinging to the edge of the kitchen counter in his hysteria. He could barely breathe, every new gasp forced out as Yuuri’s words replayed in his head and just… set him off again. He couldn’t help it – it was just too funny!

“You don’t really believe that was all it was, do you?” he cackled between chuckles as he straightened up, wiping the tears from the corners of his eyes.

Yuuri just threw a scowl over his shoulder. 

“It was work…” he mumbled, pouting adorably as he fished two glasses from the overhead cupboard and filled them with water from the filtered tap. “We had a meeting…”

Phichit just grinned - the biggest shit eating grin Yuuri had ever laid eyes on!

“ _ Yeah… _ ” he nodded, beaming. HIs eyes still sparkled with mischief, obviously having the time of his life teasing Yuuri and not even the shame of trying to hide it. “ _ Sure… _ uh-huh… so, tell me then,” Phichit crossed his arms over his chest and put a finger to his lips, mockingly serious. “What was this meeting about?”

Yuuri’s mouth snapped opened… but then he paused. “Well, I mean, we didn’t actually get round to-”

“I knew it!”

Yuuri rolled his eyes and inwardly groaned. Sometimes he really wished he could trade in his best friend for a newer model, someone more sympathetic to his problems - like that fact he’d unintentionally grinded against the outline of his boss’s dick on the way back from lunch. 

Yuuri wasn’t sure if he’d ever live that down.

It had been the single best and worst moment of his life; pressed up against Victor, feeling the length of his body smothered by his hot, Russian’s boss, hips knocking into Yuuri’s from behind – albeit unintentionally – reminiscent of … certain other close-encounter activities that Yuuri had  _ definitely  _ indulged thoughts on before… and of course Chris had told Phichit all about it, he thought with an inward groan, cheeks growing hot.

He wasn’t sure how he was ever going to face Victor again without blushing, without wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole every time he was near.

It was too embarrassing.

All Victor was going to think of when he saw Yuuri now would be his fat ass all but grinding on him in the sodding revolving door...

Yuuri blinked up as he caught Phichit’s eyes flash over his shoulder - programmed to panic whenever he caught that mischievous glint in his best friend’s eye - and his hand jolted up to Yuuri’s face, to his hand and his-

He realised what was going to happen just a second too late.

“ _ Ooops _ !”

Yuuri gasped.

His heart stopped as Phichit  _ stumbled _ forward and tipped up the glass in Yuuri’s hand from the bottom, shamelessly all but pouring the water down his front, drenching his shirt.

His once white – now see-through! – shirt.

Yuuri choked on air as the cold splash hit him, horrified beyond words. “P-Phichit!” he shuddered hard, the wet shirt freezing against the bare skin of his chest. It stuck to him, moulding to his body like a second skin that left  _ nothing  _ to the imagination. He was going to kill Phichit. “What the hel-”

“Oh my God.”

Yuuri snapped his head up, heart stopping at the unmistakable Russian accent. Oh God - he was going to  _ kill _ Phichit…

Victor stood stock-still in the doorway, phone hanging from his hand totally forgotten as it dialled out, Victor not paying it a whit of attention as he stared with wide, bug eyes… right at Yuuri’s drenched torso. His jaw hung open. A touch of pink grazed his cheeks - just on the right spot where it made the sharp blue colour of his eyes even brighter.

Yuuri could feel them on his torso, could feel them raking over his flabby chest, and soft middle, his sodden shirt clinging to every unsightly lump…

The shirt was useless.

It hid absolutely nothing about his physique, Victor no doubt horrified that all their training sessions at the gym had paid off so little. He could see  _ everything _ ...

 

* * *

  
  
Victor could see  _ everything. _

He could feel himself staring - but honestly, it wasn’t his fault! Not when an absolute Adonis like Yuuri Katsuki was standing there with his strong chest and defined abs cushioned with a layer of softness that Victor would just  _ love _ to sink his teeth into, wet, and dripping, and teeth snagging his lower lip as he glanced up at Victor through his dark eyelashes and colour splashed beautifully over his cheeks…

… and Phichit was still there too.

Victor cleared his throat. “W-what happened?”

Yuuri just glared at his best friend.

_ Ah,  _ Victor pieced together.  _ That _ happened… he really needed to give Phichit another raise. Maybe a gift basket too.

It wasn’t fair. Victor wasn’t sure how he’d ever get any work done again knowing that this  _ specimen  _ was sitting just across the office from him. He could see the exactly curve to Yuuri’s pectoral muscles, the defined ridge to Yuuri’s abs, the pale pink of his nipples, and the dark little happy trail disappearing down into his -

Victor snapped his eyes back up to Yuuri’s face, mortified at the traitorous click in his neck.  _ Fuck.  _ Yuuri heard it. People on the other side of the Atlantic could have heard it! His body had betrayed him.

In more ways than one…

_ Don’t look down _ , Victor prayed in his head, holding Yuuri’s eye and all but ready to turn and run if Yuuri so much as glanced at his growing…  _ problem _ .

It wasn’t fair that Yuuri had been hiding all that under an ill fitting baggy t-shirt during their gym sessions. If Victor had known-

“You…” Victor’s tongue darted out to wet his suddenly bone dry lips, trying to remember how words worked. How could he possible phrase ‘ _ I want you to take me over the kitchen counter, here, now _ ’ in an office suitable manner? “You look good.”

_ Really good... _

“Yuuri’s taken up pole dancing.” Phichit said from the side, eyes sparkled. Victor had almost forgotten he was there... 

And his heart damned near stopped at that.

“Y-you-” Victor choked, eyes popping wide - he couldn’t help it! He cleared his throat awkwardly, colour on his cheeks darkening. “You pole dance?” His voice was a note higher than usual...

_ Fuck. _

“J-just at fitness classes!” Yuuri stammered, cheeks flaming red. “It’s nothing, _ you know _ … I mean, it’s not… it’s not…  _ stripping… _ ”

Victor pressed his eyes shut.

If Yuuri in a wet, see through shirt with his cobblestone abs straddling a pole with his strong thighs - that Victor had _ definitely  _ got a good feel of in the revolving door - wasn’t enough to drive him crazy, then the thought of Yuuri doing all that while  _ stripping _ … Victor sucked in a shuddering breath. He needed to calm down. He absolutely needed to calm down.

When he opened his eyes again, Yuuri was picking the glass he’d dropped by the sink, bent over at the waist…

Victor was not calming down.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone bring Phichit his damned popcorn...


	36. Office Treats

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Dedicca <3

There was no dignified way to eat a popsicle, Yuuri quickly realised with horror, staring down at the round, orange tip of the Calippo he’d picked out from the batch of ice lollies Victor had brought round earlier with a sinking feeling in his stomach. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time...

The office was unbearably humid.

Outside the sun was streaming, bright and warm, beaming through the vast greenhouse windows of the office that didn’t open and… just kept getting hotter.

Sweat prickled at the back of Yuuri’s neck, even with the blinds drawn to try and block out some of the light, skin still tingling from where the sun had touched it just logging in his computer than morning. His tie had been discarded. Even Victor had shed his waistcoat and jacket when he’d come in, shirt sleeves rolled gloriously up his forearms.

Yuuri had made sure to get a good look as his boss had kindly offered out ice creams and ice lollies, something to make the heat just a little more bearable.

He was quickly regretting his decision though.

“You could have grabbed something with ice cream in it,” Phichit suggested unhelpfully from his desk, grinning over his choc ice.

Yuuri just pulled a face. “But I wanted something fruity...”

He hadn’t thought of the practical side of his selection as he’d picked an orange flavour Calippo from the bunch, the refreshing tropical fruit calling to him.

It was only when he’d shed the top wrapped and pushed the popsicle up from the bottom of the wrapper that he froze.

He hadn’t thought it through.

It was too late to go back now though. The wrapper was open, it was already starting to glisten as the temperature warmed up from freezing, and if he threw it away he’d just make a puddle in his bin. He had to eat it. He had no choice.

His tongue darted out, catching a dribble of orange running down the side. Flavour burst on his taste buds, refreshing, and… exactly what he wanted.

But a few more kitten licks later - modest and demure, darting out over the popsicle - he realised it wasn’t a good plan. It would take a lifetime to finish it, would melt before he was even half way through.

He didn’t have a choice...

_Here goes nothing,_ he thought with a silent groan, sighing to himself. He might as well just get it over with.

He wrapped his lips around the tip of the orange popsicle and sucked, trying not to think of what the lolly was exactly the right size of, how it fit in his mouth like _certain other things_ might, and how it looked. He didn’t want to think about it. The faster he ate it, the less he’d have to endure the humiliation.

He swirled his tongue around the popsicle, catching the melting drops threatening to run off down the body of it as his lips pulled back.

The flavour was so much more intense, bursting on his tongue, his lips, the insides of his cheeks as he went down for another suck. He moaned quietly around it, the cool ice making him feel so much better already. His eyes fluttered shut, savouring the taste. And without another thought, he pushed his lips further down the popsicle and sucked hard.

* * *

 

Victor knew he was staring, eyes blinking wide over his laptop and his own ice cream melting freely in his hand and onto the desk. He didn’t care. He really didn’t care. He had much better things happening across the office that were much more worthy of his attention.

“Hey,” Christophe’s voice suddenly said from behind him, making him jump. It wasn’t enough to break Victor’s concentration  though. “Is Yuuri-”

“If you distract him in any way I swear to God, Chris, I will leak your browsing history to HR.”

The words spilled out of Victor’s mouth straight from the back of his brain, bypassing his filter entirely. He didn’t feel that bad actually, teeth snagging his lower lip teasingly as he watched that sinful orange popsicle across the office with absolute envy.

Christophe went silent for a moment.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.”

Victor knew it was childish, stupid, probably deeply immoral on some level… but he couldn’t help it. The show being put on across the office was just too good to pass up on.

“What even…” Chris looked up, following Victor’s gaze. His eyes popped wide when they fell on Yuuri… and that lucky, lucky popsicle. “Oh. Yeah. Um…yeah, I think I’ll just sit here for a while..."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the unexpected breakdown last week for those who didn't see the memo on Tumblr. It's done. I'm back. Thank you for your patience.
> 
> Although I just wrote Yuuri deep throating ~~Victor’s dick~~ a popsicle, so we're even now right?
> 
> ( and super, super thanks to all those who sent me nice messages during that time. I legit cried at all of them. The right kind of cry, the happy kind <3 so thank you thank you thank you <3 )


	37. Not-So-Office Emails

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For QuinnDom15 and binki0268

Victor blinked up at the pop of an incoming email from his computer, remembering that the time was nearly eight o’clock in the evening and the office was empty. Even Yakov didn’t bother him this late unless his balance sheet deadline was dangerously approaching.

Victor frowned up from his papers, blinking curiously at his laptop.

It only got worse after that.

_ ‘You’re welcome ;) _ ’ gleamed out from the subject line of the email, the sending address nothing to do with the company. It wasn’t work. It wasn’t anything Victor recognised, no names or nicknames he could pick up on. Maybe it was one of those fake generated ones, ones that deleted themselves after ten minutes so they couldn’t be used again…

Either way, Victor was wary. 

Even more so when he saw the video.

From what Victor could tell it looked like a dance studio, with smooth wooden floors and a wall mirror backdrop, beautiful and simple. 

But Victor had been warned before more than once about opening links and content from unknown sources via email. Just one trash link titled ‘ _ Poodle puppies so cute you might DIE _ ’ that had accidentally ended in a  _ teeny tiny  _ virus and suddenly you couldn’t be trusted with anything...

As ever though, curiosity got the better of him.

He clicked play, crossed his arms over his chest and a finger over his lips, and leaned back in his chair curiously.

He wasn’t waiting for long. 

Classical music spilled softly out of the speakers. A figure stepped into the camera shot with long, graceful strides, thighs thick and muscular inside high waisted flesh coloured ballet tights that left  _ nothing _ of the shape of the dancers legs to the imagination.  _ Nothing _ .

And that was all the dancer wore.

Victor caught his jaw hanging open just in time, snapping his mouth shut.

He couldn’t help it - the dancer was hot. His fingers closed around a pole that Victor hadn’t even noticed was there against the lights of the wall mirror, Victor absolutely hypnotised at the way the muscles in the dancer’s back and shoulders rippled gloriously with just that simple movement. 

His dark haired head turned ever so slightly to the side as he trailed one leg up the other with a pointed toe - back still turned to the camera - and stretched over his head, grip on the pole relaxed and gentle like what he was doing was  _ easy. _

It had Victor’s mouth watering, eyes wide in his skull as he watched. He choked on air when those strong thighs hooked around the pole, lifting the dancer off the ground.

Victor had never realised ballet music could really be so …  _ arousing _ , frankly. 

Long, graceful legs curled slow and sensual around the pole, lifting the dancer’s fit - but still soft - body around it in a gloriously unhurried pace. Victor was biting his lip in no time, barely holding back a whine.

He needed to go home, he decided, catching his breath. He needed to go home right now, and take his laptop with him. For … work purposes…

He was just about to snap the laptop shut and tuck it under his arm to leave and watch the video at home in  _ private _ when something on the screen made him pause. 

Held up with just one strong leg wrapped around the pole - muscles in his thick thighs bunched gloriously - and a hand firm on his ankle, the dancer was hanging upside down from the pole, his body unfolding out beneath him and spare arm trailing a sensual path up his torso, chest, through his dark hair and his head tipped back, and -

Victor gasped.

It was Yuuri.

 

* * *

 

“Okay, I don’t know which one of you it was. I’m not going to ask who it was or take this to HR - or more importantly,  _ tell Yuuri - _ but this is unacceptable. What I received last night was completely inappropriate and cannot happen again. Am I absolutely clear?”

Phichit and Christophe just blinked at him in the meeting room the next morning, frowning in unison. For a moment, nobody spoke. 

Then-

“ _ What _ did you say you received _?” _

“D-did you say Yuuri!?”

Victor had been prepared for deniability. He understood. It was normal, and considering he didn’t plan on taking any further action on the matter, he didn’t really care.

As long as the message got across.

The confused looks staring at him told him that it hadn’t though.

Phichit’s eyes were round and mouth hanging open, while Christophe olive green eyes were glinting with a smirk that was  _ definitely  _ not safe for work.

Victor didn’t understand, glancing between the pair of them and feeling his own frown start to settle. He didn’t get it. It had to have been one of them. The best friends of the office were always up to this kind of mischief. Phichit knew Yuuri did pole dancing. Victor knew for a fact that Christophe did it himself. It just… it had to be...

“Victor,” Christophe finally broke the silence after a stunned moment, glancing across to Phichit. “What are you talking about?”

Victor was so confused... “The video?”

Heads shook.

“The … video of Yuuri?”

More blank stares.

“The video of Yuuri pole dancing in ballet tights.”

“What?!”

“-do you still have it?”

Victor had to lunge for his laptop to save it from Chris’s suddenly darting gaze - not trusting that it would have been followed by grabbing hands if he’d left it a second later. He snapped it shut, casting his friend a dark look as he slipped the laptop safely out of reach behind his chair. Once that was out of the way, he clasped his hands on the desktop, trying to remember how being a boss worked.

“I received an inappropriate video of Yuuri pole dancing last night,” he explained calmly, trying to cling onto this professional facade just a little longer until he could pull Chris aside and grill him for information in little less work-approved fashion. So far, his money was on him... “I thought… I thought it was one of you…”

Phichit just grinned over the table, beaming. “Sorry, not me.”

“Yeah, me neither.” Chris’s eyes rolled to the ceiling, nodding dreamily up and some unknown angel. “But damn, I wish it was...”

Victor’s frown just furrowed deeper. “Then who…”

 

* * *

Phichit was grinning ear to ear when he came out of the meeting, making a bee line back to his desk… but not before he’d flicked his best friend playfully behind the ear, smirking.

“Yuuri Katsuki, you little slut,” he beamed, “I’m so proud. I knew you had it in you.”

Yuuri buried his face in his hands and flushed crimson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [this](https://katsudon-fatale-on-ice.tumblr.com/post/174977520451/dancinggrimm-kagero68-suave-slow-and-elegant) <3


	38. First Aid

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Crystara and inufan330 
> 
> 'Yuuri burns his hand on the coffee pot and Victor freaks out and goes into Nurse Mode'

Victor had tuned out to the phone call droning in his ear a long time ago, eyes bored and dull as they stared across the kitchen absentmindedly. He wasn’t sure when he’d come in the kitchen. He hadn’t bothered to leave, just leaning his hips against the counter and listening to the calming whistle of the already boiling kettle. Anything to distract him…

Until Yuuri slipped inside. 

Victor’s eyes popped wide in a heartbeat, blinking the life back into his eyes and straightening up a little against the counter. He hoped his waistcoat still looked sharp, hoped his bangs still fell right.

“Coffee?” the clerk just mouthed silently at him, jerking his head at the kettle.

Victor groaned quietly, coffee sounding amazing in that moment. “Yes,” he sighed aloud, running a hand through his hair and forgetting all about the phone pressed to his ear.  “ _ Please _ .”

The kettle popped.

Victor watched the bubbles recede through the meter running down the side of the kettle as the water finished boiling, feeling his tension start to sink with them. Just being around Yuuri made him feel better, just being in the same room. It was so domestic, Yuuri reaching up to the high counters and pushing up on his tiptoes to reach the mugs. It made his thighs bunch in his trousers, straining sinfully against the material. Victor didn’t realise he’d been biting his lip until Yuuri flickered him a shy smile, cheeks dusting pink, and-

The illusion shattered.

“Dammit!”

Yuuri hissed. 

Victor blinked himself back to reality just in time to see the clerk’s face scrunch up in pain and his hand whip away from the freshly boiled kettle. His fingers whipped through the air in a blur, eyebrows pinched together.

Victor pieced together what had happened in a heartbeat. 

“Oh my God,” he gasped, stepping forward. He tossed the phone on the counter, not caring one whit where it fell. “Are you okay?”

Yuuri’s eyes were watering - blinking fast down at the floor, gaze hardened and glistening at the same time, burning with intensity and shimmering with moisture - as he sucked his finger into his mouth, Victor catching a glimpse of his tongue before his lips closed around his burn. Victor’s heart stopped in more ways than one.

_ Oh God, _ he thought, heart stopping dead in his chest.  _ Please don’t cry, please don’t cry, please don’t cry- _

He knocked the handle on the tap, cool water spilling down into the sink.

“H-here!”

Yuuri gasped as Victor pulled his finger out of his mouth and herded him to the sink with his arm around his shoulders, air whistling through his teeth as Victor guided his hand under the cool water. The tip of his forefinger was an angry red, skin inflamed and irritated. 

Victor didn’t like the look of it.

He watched the water flow over the digit like a man possessed, his first aid training from last year’s course evaporating from his mind. 

How long was he supposed to hold Yuuri’s finger under the water? Five minutes? Ten? Less? He wasn’t sure, but he  _ definitely  _ wasn’t in a rush. Was he supposed to put a balm on it? Did they even  _ have _ anything for balms in the first aid kit?

Victor uncurled his fingers from around Yuuri’s to reach up into the cupboards to find out, quickly finding the handle of the first aid box and sliding it free. 

There wasn’t much inside to help.

Cooling gel that was out of date by a year, some vaseline, some plasters, some pain killers, a roll of thin bandage… Victor scowled down at the box bitterly. Whose job was it to stock check this stuff?

_ Probably his… _

He pushed the thoughts away, picking out some stray gauze pads, tearing them up to a suitable size and snagging a plaster before turning back to Yuuri.

The clerk helpfully hadn’t moved from the water.

Victor’s eyes were fierce with concentration as he dropped his load on the counter and eased Yuuri’s finger away from the sink, tearing some paper towels free from the side and dabbing them carefully over the burn. The skin hadn’t broken, hadn’t charred or turned black… but a tiny little blister was starting to form on the fingertip, marring Yuuri’s perfect skin.

Victor scowled at it, gently holding the gauze pad over it. He didn’t have a clue what that was supposed to do, but he was pretty sure he’d seen someone do it in a movie somewhere…

“You’re not allergic to plasters, are you?” he asked - the one thing he  _ did _ remember from his first aid course. He didn’t take his eyes off Yuuri’s finger.

“Wha- er, no,” Yuuri stammered, his hand twitching in Victor’s grasp. “No, I’m fine.”

Victor tore the plaster wrapper open with his teeth, his spare hand too busy holding onto Yuuri’s to help. He sealed it around the gauze with expert precision, wrapping it firm - but not too tight - around the burned digit, ends connecting perfectly. 

He hadn’t realised Yuuri had been holding his breath until he suddenly let it go, air rushing out gently over Victor’s lips they were so close and when Victor flickered his eyes up-

He gasped too.

The prettiest blush was spreading over Yuuri’s cheeks and the bridge of his nose, colour only making his round, brown eyes pop all the bigger, all the brighter as he stared up at him with eyes like Bambi. He was gorgeous, stopping Victor’s heart dead in his chest. His eyelashes fluttered when Victor lifted his hand to his face, pressing a tender kiss to the tip of the bandaged finger.

“There,” Victor said, holding Yuuri’s eye. When had his voice gotten so husky? “All better.”

Another sharp inhale from Yuuri was all that answered him.

That was fine - he hadn’t expected anything.

“Let me just get the accident book.”

“ _ Wha- _ no!”

Yuuri blinked back into focus, brow dipping and pretty little mouth pouting stubbornly. God, it was adorable, Victor couldn’t help thinking.

Yuuri’s head just shook, adamant. “No, I’m not filling out the accident book for burning my finger.”

Victor smirked knowingly. “I insist.”

“It’s not worth it.”

“If that gets infected and you lose a finger, you could sue me for it.”

“Technically, I’d sue the company, not you. And it can’t get infected - look,” his hand twitched in Victor’s. “It’s not even broken the skin!”

Victor fluttered his eyelashes. “ _ Yuuri…” _

He already knew he was going to win - he was the boss, after all. Every now and then, that title held certain perks beyond generating reports for Yakov - like this one! Yuuri just rolled his eyes, snapping his mouth shut. He couldn’t say no. Not to Victor.

Victor didn’t let Yuuri’s hand go as he reached into the box again, easily finding the little accident book and pen, thumbing open the page and flattening it over the counter. 

“Okay…” He clicked the pen, ready. “First degree burn on kettle, treated on site...”

“Victor…”

“Patient responsive…”

“ _ Victor… _ ”

“Pain rating?”

Yuuri’s head shook, eyes rolling up at the ceiling. “0.5,” he huffed, stubborn little smirk fighting in the corner of his mouth.

Victor chuckled.

“And are you satisfied with your care?”

“ _ Yes _ ! Now can we just-”

“Okay, okay…”

Victor was smiling to himself was too broadly for someone who had just plastered a burn and still didn’t have any coffee in his system as he packed up the first aid box and snapped it shut, reaching up to put it back on the top shelf of the cupboard where it belonged. He didn’t notice how close his hips were to the edge of the counter as he reached up - just a little higher than he had before - pushing up on his toes and -

The air knocked out of his lungs.

His vision went white.

Pain flared through him, rippling from his groin and searing like fire through his thighs, mouth dropping open in a helpless, silent cry.

A high pitched noise choked out of him.

“Oh my God,” he heard Yuuri gasp behind him. He must have seen, must have understood what had happened... “A-are you okay?”

Victor just doubled over in response, clutching his balls. 

“ _ Ungh _ ,” he grunted with a wince, eyes staring wide down at the floor. “ _ Fuck _ !”

In the back of his mind, Victor knew he should be ashamed of himself, grabbing his dick in front of his crus- _ valued employee  _ like he was, but… but he really hadn’t noticed the angle of the counter edge quickly approaching his groin until it had been too late. He couldn’t believe it. Pain drowned out shame though, shocked, and horrified, and  _ god, his dick hurt- _

Out of the corner of his eye, Yuuri looked shocked too. His blush had paled, eyes wide … then a wicked smirk curls his lips. “Better get the book out again...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ironically, today was the day that I actually burned my hand on the coffee thing. 
> 
> The guy who the dick bashing thing happened to listed it in the accident book as 'crushed my manhood' which I found equally as funny as the actual dick bashing (which we managed to get on CCTV xD hehe)
> 
> (also, sorry there was no update on Friday. I had the worst monthend ever)


	39. Office Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For CathainDonnelaith - "Hmm, a daydream for Victor... how about: he imagines they have to work overtime one evening and they really must finish that spreadsheet whatever (I know nothing about accounting :))) ) so they’re both typing on the same keyboard, like number virtuosos, gracefully tangling their limbs and finishing eachother’s... calculations? (ya know, like those silly scenes in NCIS, where they actually wanna make you believe that’s howcoding works XD)"
> 
> I wrote so many drafts of this... but the limb tangling sounded just too awkward in every single one of them, so I wrote this instead.

****“So you just need to click _here_ and update the pivot table by changing the data source in the Data tab, and then…”

Victor wasn’t sure how he’d ended up in his position – leaned over Yuuri’s shoulder at the clerk’s desk, one arm around the back of Yuuri’s chair and the other smothering Yuuri’s over his mouse. His fingers were warm beneath Victor’s touch, soft and delicate. They were relaxed and compliant as Victor moved the mouse on the clerk’s behalf, clicking leisurely through the spreadsheet.

He didn’t really care how it had come to be though – he was just delighted! Bent over at the waist, Yuuri’s face just inches away from his own as they both leaned in to see the monitor…

Victor refreshed the pivot table on the screen, the data falling into place.

“You see?” he said, voice breathier than he’d intended it to be. He glanced down ever so slightly, watching Yuuri through his eyelashes. “Just like that…”

They were the last ones left. Everyone else had long left the office and gone home, but Yuuri had agreed to stay behind late and help Victor with his item sales file for Yakov. He was a godsend in Victor’s eyes - that was always the file he hated working with most! But with Yuuri there, the sun setting beautifully on the horizon, and the pair of them blissfully alone, somehow the task didn’t seem anywhere near as torturous as usual.

He was almost enjoying himself…

Yuuri smiled shyly over his shoulder, damn near stopping Victor’s heart dead in his chest. His tongue darted out, wetting his  dry lips.

It was only then that he noticed how quiet the empty office was. The falling sunset glowed a warm orange at them through the window, the falling light narrowing down to the shine of their shared computer, the silence without the clack of the typing keys wrapping around them both like it was drawing them closer...

He glanced down at Yuuri through hooded eyelashes, heart beating hard and strong in his chest with anticipation.

Yuuri was so close…

His gaze flickered up - eyes fixed adorably on Victor’s mouth – eyelashes fanning out dark and beautiful over his round, pink cheeks. _He was so beautiful,_ Victor couldn’t help but think, fingers slipping over the mouse to lace neatly through Yuuri’s.

Yuuri gasped, Victor feeling the air whip away from the side of his cheek to disappear between Yuuri’s lips.

 _Lucky_ …

He really was a weak man.

“Yuuri…”

He’d forgotten all about the spreadsheet. He’d forgotten all about the report. He’d forgotten all about Yakov. All that mattered was Yuuri, warm and gentle under his arm, soft breath sighing over his lips oh-so temptingly. Victor fluttered his eyes shut, taking a deep breath. He needed to calm down. He needed to relax. He needed to –

He wasn’t sure which one of them closed the gap first.

All he knew was that one moment, he was sucking in a slow breath to settle his racing heart and the next he was tasting that breath from Yuuri’s lips, painfully soft against his own.

Victor whimpered.

He felt Yuuri twist under his arm around the chair, felt the clerk sit up ever so slightly straighter just enough to close the height gap… and Victor felt his heart melt as Yuuri’s lips grazed over his.

It was barely even a kiss.

Yuuri’s mouth brushed over his so gently Victor wondered if it was even real, if he’d just imagined it. He couldn’t help himself - he’d thought about kissing Yuuri for weeks now. His breath still hitched all the same, heart skipping a beat as his lips pushed back ever so slightly against Yuuri’s for more. Kitten kisses barely made a dent in the desire fanning in Victor’s chest, all the weeks of pining hitting him with the force of a freight train.

He savoured every moment though. Slow and sweet, Yuuri’s lips plump, and soft, and wet - had Yuuri licked his lips before he’d leaned in?

Victor just hummed into the embrace, chest rumbling happily.

He could feel his heart beating a mile a minute as Yuuri pushed up smoothly to his feet and dove his fingers into the back of Victor’s hair, Victor’s arms winding instinctively around his waist as their chests touched. A touch wasn’t enough… Victor barely heard the strangled noise he made in the back of his throat as Yuuri’s hands guided him back - gentle, but firm - into the waiting chair behind them.

Victor hadn’t seen it before.

He guessed he’d been a little preoccupied...

He certainly didn’t have any arguments as Yuuri climbed into his lap with all the grace of the dancer he was, knees straddling his hips and tongue nipping the edge of Victor’s lips, teasing. It took Victor’s breath away, air hitching in his chest. He wasn’t going to survive this monthend at this rate without having a heart attack.

He didn’t care though - gathering Yuuri in his arms and fingers digging in greedily into the soft flesh around Yuuri’s hips, holding him close.

Yuuri didn’t seem to mind one bit.

He pushed back into Victor’s hands, body soft, and warm, and curvy. It was perfect for holding, perfect for cuddling...

Victor laughed breathlessly when Yuuri licked into his mouth with a shy grin, chuckling against the clerk’s lips. He couldn’t help it - he just couldn’t believe they were really doing this! There! In the office, where it had all started, where it had all bloomed over weeks and months of looks, and touches, and unsaid words.

Something sharp dug into his thigh, and Victor gasped – sharper than before, air shooting through his lungs harsh and sudden.

The illusion shattered.

He wasn’t in the office, he noticed immediately. He was at home – in bed – the room dark around him, with his nose nuzzled in fur and wet doggie kisses slobbering over his face. Claws pressed into his leg - not enough to break skin but enough to wake him with a jolt.

Victor jerked up in bed, snatching his arms from around his poodle.

“Makka!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never watched NCIS but I loved how all I had to type in Google was NCIS coding and the first result was [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ) xD


	40. Office BBQ

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For puppyfacetwo and almwolfhunter07

When Victor sent round an email to say that work would be cancelled on Friday afternoon and a summer office party would be happening instead, everyone was delighted. Plans were made. A section of the car park was cordoned off in preparation. The sun streamed in relentless and brutal all week in the lead up to it, making the break even more of a treat, even more something to look forward to.

By the time lunchtime Friday came round, nobody could wait to get outside out of the sweatbox of an office. 

“You look fine!” Phichit said, dragging Yuuri out from the gym changing rooms.

Suits and ties weren’t really barbeque attire, after all...

Yuuri still tugged a little against his best friend’s grip though, feeling self conscious. “I’m not sure this is appropriate...”

“Victor said this was a party. He’s wearing shorts.”

“Not these kind of shorts…”

“Trust me, Yuuri. You’re going to make the man’s dreams come true.”

The moment they stepped out the door from the building the heat melted into them. The air was thick and humid, heat waves rising up off the cars across the carpark it was so hot, and sun warming the boy’s skin the second they were in its reach. Yuuri was glad he’d put on a dab of sunscreen. He had a feeling he was going to need it.

The car park was bustling. People were laughing, talking, eating, playing games, water splashing around and not a suit or tie in sight. 

It was great.

Yuuri grinned as Phichit pulled him through the fun - this was so much better than melting in the office. This was the best idea ever! 

“Nice apron,” Phichit said in front of him, snagging Yuuri’s attention back.

He hadn’t even noticed his best friend drag them over to Victor, but Yuuri’s eyes popped when he realised, heart leaping up into his throat. He wasn’t sure what it was that caught him more; Victor’s glorious skin in the sun, the shorts hugging his thighs and short sleeves of his shirt tight around his biceps, or the fact he was behind the barbeque, so domestic…

It took him a minute to  _ actually  _ read the apron wrapped around Victor’s torso, following a nudge from Phichit.  _ ‘May I suggest the sausag _ e’ was written over the director’s chest, with a hand pointing down his torso.

“Thanks,” Victor grinned, smattering of pink dusting over his cheeks. “Chris’s idea.”

Yuuri couldn’t stop staring, following the point of the apron down, down, and further down - until he remembered that Victor was  _ very much aware  _ of him and where his eyes were going…

He snapped his gaze up, face flooding red.

Victor didn’t look much better, neck clicking as he jerked his head up too, mouth still hanging open a little.

Yuuri shuffled awkwardly where he stood.

Every inch he moved made the sinfully short denim shorts stretched around the top of his thighs slide rough over his skin, legs bare and a baggy white t-shirt with a loose neckline that showed off his collarbones draped over his top. In fairness, he did feel cool. He also felt exposed, feeling his skin tingle where Victor’s gaze had been just moments before…

The director cleared his throat awkwardly, tongue darting out to wet his lips as he turned to Phichit. Yuuri didn’t miss the way his eyes kept dancing back in his direction though.

“Um,” he stammered, blinking too often. “R-regrettably there are certain legal statutes preventing me from offering alcohol, but if you were so inclined I’m sure Chris could help you out. I’ll turn a blind eye.”

Yuuri could definitely do with a beer… or twenty.

“We’ve got food going, some table tennis, a little pool, there’s some ice cream in the freezer, the bull thing…”

_ Bull thing? _

Yuuri frowned, glancing across to the back end of the car park… where a mechanical rodeo bull was set up in an inflatable crash ring with all the colours of the American flag.

Yuuri felt Phichit grab his arm. “Yuuri, you’ve got to do that!”

Yuuri’s heart stopped.

“Phichit, no!” he hissed, flickering his gaze to Victor. Was it just him or had the director’s breathing picked up a little faster?

“Come on, you’d be amazing at it!”

It took twenty minutes of convincing… and Yuuri was still regretting his life decisions as he bounced in the inflatable ring, pushing himself up onto the back of the bull. His worst nightmares came true barely a second later - when he got stuck. He felt his shorts ride up even more up the tops of his thighs - barely covering his ass as it was! - as he all but hung bent over the machine, ass in the air. He wished he could die, disappear, vanish into thin air…

When he finally wiggled his way up, swinging a leg over the bull and shuffling himself into a comfortable position, his confidence slowly started to trickle back.

He gripped the handle, thighs tensing ready to hold him in place.

Yuuri didn’t see the way Victor sweated through his shirt watching from across the parking lot - nor the way he burned three sausages, downed two beers in a matter of gulps, and shamelessly fanned himself watching Yuuri ride that bull to within an inch of his life - and to the day’s best time record.

Phichit rewarded his bestie with a douse from the hose filling the inflatable paddling pool to cool off.

It did nothing to help Victor calm down.

He felt his knees melt beneath him as he watched water drench Yuuri’s white shirt see-through, he pushed his wet hair back from his face, and stripped off the wet shirt from his body, water droplets glistening in the sun as the rolled gloriously down Yuuri’s torso.

Distracted, two burgers charred under Victor’s watch.

 

* * *

 

It was another hour or so before the BBQ station shut down to cool off and Victor relieved himself of duty, grabbing a cold beer, a picnic blanket, and his sunscreen.

He was going to get some colour on his pasty white skin if it killed him.

He lathered the sunscreen over his chest and face thickly, paying extra attention to his pale shoulders and delicate knee caps. They always burned fast, from his experience. What always burned worse though was his back, and that he couldn’t reach for himself…

He twisted around, searching for help.

He found it quickly.

“ _ Yuuuuuuuurii~ _ ”he purred, hearing the beers in the drag of his voice as he caught the clerk’s eye, shamelessly cutting off his conversation with Yurio. “Could you help me?”

Victor didn’t even feel remotely embarrassed at the disgusted roll of Yurio’s eyes as Yuuri muttered an apology and all but ran over to Victor, cheeks pink and a little breathless for crossing just a handful of feet across the parking lot.

He just propped up on his elbow from where he was lying on his side on the picnic blanket, crossed his long legs delicately and batted his eyelashes.

He held up the sunscreen. “Could you do my back for me please?”

A shoot of satisfaction jolted through him at the hard blush that spread over Yuuri’s cheeks, watching his Adam’s apple bob with his gulp.

He didn’t say no though.

“Y-yeah. Sure.”

Victor was all but purring as he rolled onto his front and Yuuri took the bottle from his hand, kneeling down beside him. It took everything in Victor bite his tongue from suggesting Yuuri straddling across the back of his thighs would give him a better angle. He couldn’t be  _ too _ obvious after all…

He bit his lip in anticipation, feeling his heartbeat beatbox in his ears. 

When Yuuri’s lotion cooled fingers touched the back of his shoulder blades, a whining noise slipped out of Victor’s lips.

He didn’t bother trying to muffle it.

Yuuri’s fingers were slow and careful, fanning out over Victor’s skin as they leisurely rubbed the lotion into his back. They pressed into the muscle satisfyingly, Victor using every bit of his willpower not to roll his hips as Yuuri travelled down the line of his waist, palms massaging deep into Victor’s sides.

Victor made obscene noises all the while, guiltless and indulgent. If Yuuri somehow flunked his accounting exams, Victor would be more than happy to take him on as his personal desk masseuse. The boy was  _ talented _ , hands working magic over Victor’s body.

He bit his lip as he couldn’t help but let his imagination stray to  _ what else _ Yuuri’s talented hands might be able to do to him, where else they could touch…

“For fuck’s sake, just get a room already!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From what I’ve seen, most places in America have aircon but… I’m going to pretend that Victor’s big-up company doesn’t for some reason. Accept the fanfiction logic. 
> 
> (because we do not have AC in my workplace or my flat and it has been getting to 35-40 degrees C in our office the last few weeks and I stg I am dying a slow death and am hunting for sympathy. I am not built for warmth. Bring back the rain)


	41. Betting Pool

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Phoenix Song

Victor didn’t mean to eavesdrop as he walked through the cafeteria, passing two boys at the vending machine and ears unintentionally pricking to their conversation. Usually, he would just block them out.

But he was in a good mood today…

“What are the odds on JJ again?” the first one asked.

“Four to one.”

“How is he so high? There’s no way he’s going to score…”

The second boy just shrugged. “I don’t know, but Phichit said-”

“What’s Phichit doing?” Victor asked from behind, cutting them off and making the boys jump out of their skin.

Victor’s curiosity was officially aroused the moment Phicht’s name popped up. There was always something interesting going on when the Thai boy was involved. Good or bad – but it was always interesting.

Victor could do with a little interesting.

The boy’s whipped round at the sound of his voice, looking horrified the moment they clapped eyes on him.

Victor didn’t get it.

“Um-”

“Betting on the World Cup?” Victor asked friendlily, hoping the boy’s weren’t too intimidated to talk to him because he was a director or anything like that.

It was a reasonable guess. With the final matches just days away, the talk of betting odds and scores… Russia may have been knocked sadly out of the tournament over the weekend but Victor was still interested in the final result, and with nobody in the office native to the countries of the final teams, Victor guessed it was all just healthy enthusiasm for the competition from there on out.

He was interested. It took the sting out of Russia’s loss after all. If Russia had made it to the final, Victor had been hoping to use it as an excuse to fly back home for a couple of days…

The boys still looked awkward though, stiff and panicked.

They looked at each other uncertainly. “Not exactly…”

“What is it then?”

They looked at each other again. “We can’t really say…”

“Only the betting master can disclose info…”

Victor just stared, frown digging into his brow. It was starting to get annoying now, but he was in too deep. Now he had to know… “And that’s Phichit?”

“Well…”

Victor didn’t wait for an answer. If they couldn’t say what was going on without permission, then it was definitely interesting and Victor wanted in.

 

* * *

“What’s going on?” he asked, leaning over the edge of Phichit’s desk. “What’s this betting thing going around?”

Yuuri wasn’t at his desk next to his friend’s – on a call with Sweden, if Victor remembered correctly – but that was fine. For once, it really was Phichit that Victor wanted to see, incredibly curious.

Phichit just cast him a dry eye though. “Well, you don’t expect us to wait forever, do you?”

Victor blinked.

“Excuse me?”

Phichit just sat back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest, draping one leg sassily over the other. “Look,” he said, levelling Victor with a serious stare. “Yuuri’s a guy who has needs just like everyone else and he’s waited long enough for you to make a move … so now a few other people are having a shot.”

Victor wasn’t sure what he had been expecting – a bet on the football, or another hunt for hot calendar guys, maybe – but getting chewed out for not making out with Phichit’s best friend hadn’t been on the list…

_ Though it wasn’t for lack of want _ , Victor added silently in his head.

In reality though, his jaw just fell open, shocked. He didn’t bother trying to deny anything. “H-how many people are we talking about?”

“Half the office.”

“Half the-”

Victor slapped a hand over his mouth before he said something he regretted. He knew he wasn’t always subtle and that certain people – namely Phichit and Chris – were privy to his little crush on Yuuri, but he hadn’t made a move because he  _ couldn’t  _ make a move. Surely Phichit understood that? He didn’t want to lose Yuuri to someone else while he figured things out

And he felt betrayed by Phichit for allowing – no,  _ encouraging – _ it to happen. “So what, you’re auctioning Yuuri off to the highest better?!”

Phichit’s head just tipped to the side, eyebrows arching.

“It’s all a game of skill,” he said coolly. “People are taking a shot at Yuuri in his singlehood and I’m just letting nature take its course… and making a tidy profit in the process.”

Victor just stared.

“People are betting on who can get Yuuri some sugar. Kiss, making out, a date, mind blowing sex… the only rule is that you can’t bet on yourself getting some of the Katsudon and I get to decide what’s officially a winning bet.”

People were trying to go out with Yuuri – not just happening to fancy him, but actively trying to get to Victor’s crush before him!

Victor didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.

“What about me?” he asked. If Phichit knew about his crush then he must have at least put Victor on the running list for likely candidates to get to Yuuri. “What about my odds?”

Phichit’s cool façade cracked a little, the corner of his mouth twitching in a smirk.

“I can’t say,” he shrugged with a sparkling eye. “But what I will say is that Yuuri and Minami are going on a little bro date on Friday and… well, the little nugget might just get himself some little nuggets if you know what I mean ...”

Victor choked on air.

He was definitely not happy about that.

He was still frozen with horror when Yuuri walked into the corner of his vision, coming up from behind him with his laptop in hand as he walked past Victor and Phichit back to his desk. He looked gorgeously innocent, eyes blinking naively at the pair of them as he passed.

Victor shouldn’t get involved.

He knew he shouldn’t. It was wrong and immoral, and if Yuuri wanted to go on a date with Minami then Victor should hope he has a nice time, and-

“Yuuri, you’re free on Friday, right?” he said instead.

Yuuri blinked at him, cheeks dusting pink.

“Well, actually-”

“Good, because we have a work outing. I’ll see you there.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is a day late. As some of your saw on my Tumblr, I wasn't in the best of shape yesterday.


	42. 10 Signs He Likes You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Ahumanlady

Victor had known it was a bad idea the minute he clicked onto the article but he’d kept reading anyway, hand over his mouth. He couldn’t help himself. He was never good at saying no to things like this, and the latest article that had popped up on his phone was no different.

_10 Signs He Likes You._

As soon as it had popped up on his news feed that morning, Victor had known he’d been a goner…

***

  1. **He gets** **nervous around you**



***

Yuuri got nervous around everyone.

It was one of his cute little quirks, and it didn’t take much to set it off. Every time Yuuri brought Victor a payment to sign, his hands would wrangle together anxiously and he’d shoot Victor his shy little smile, eyes big and round like Bambi. And when he stumbled over his words, Victor’s heart couldn’t help but skip a beat.

But Victor wasn’t alone in that.

Far from it.

Victor watched from across the office with a pout as Yuuri dusted his hands awkwardly on the back of his trousers, smiling – stiffly – but obviously nervous.

He was talking to Chris.

Not even _flirting_! Victor could tell from a mile away when Chris was flirting – too close, and expression sultry – but no, his best friend was just… talking.

And then when he’d watched Yuuri stiffen the moment Phichit walked into the office as well – _his best friend!_ If Yuuri couldn’t even fully relax around his best friend of years and years, he definitely wouldn’t for Victor…

***

  1. **He gives you lots of attention**



***

The fact that Yuuri was always willing to help – no task too big or too small – was one of the many reasons that he was one of Victor’s favourite employees.

If Victor needed an invoice found, Yuuri was happy to help.

If Victor needed a coffee in the morning, Yuuri was happy to offer as he walked by to the kitchen.

If Victor had a file he needed composing because he was hopelessly behind on his deadlines, Yuuri would never say no when Victor all but begged for some help.

It gave Victor a warm fuzzy feeling knowing Yuuri was always there for him, always happy to help and take as much time as was required out of his day for Victor … but at the same time, Victor was aware of one very sobering fact that he’d never be able to fully relax around.

He was still Yuuri’s _boss_.

Yuuri couldn’t exactly tell him to go away, even if he wanted to. He was obliged to give Victor his attention.

The thought made Victor glum.

***

  1. **Body Language**



***

Victor mulled over that one for a while, trying to remember how Yuuri had stood while they’d talked before, if he’d looked in his eyes, or if his shoes had pointed in Victor direction as the article said they definitely would if he was interested in Victor. He couldn’t remember though. He just hadn’t paid attention…

So when he passed by Yuuri in the kitchen - alone, making his morning cup of green tea - Victor decided it was time for a test.

“Hi, Yuuri,” he purred, leaning the back of his hips against the counter and eyes following down the length of his shoulder to Yuuri.

The clerk glanced up, flickering a shy smile.

“Hi.”

He didn’t turn.

Victor’s heart stopped dead in his chest when Yuuri didn’t immediately straighten up and turn to face him, didn’t hold his eye and instead glanced quickly back down to his tea, stirring slowly. He tried not to be disappointed. Heartbroken. Destroyed. Crushed. Miserable. He picked up his smile before Yuuri could notice though, feeling how plastic it was on his face and hoping the clerk didn’t catch on.

He glanced down. As casually as he could, letting his eyelashes flutter over his cheeks like he was just looking down bashfully instead of sleuthing-

His eyes popped wide.

“Oh my God, what are-”

He stopped himself before he could finish the sentence, slapping a hand over his mouth and biting his tongue to stop the rest of the words spilling out.

Yuuri was wearing the ugliest shoes Victor had ever seen.

Square ended, hideous brown loafers… Victor felt like fainting, hand shooting out to balance himself against the edge of the counter just in case.

Yuuri just stared at him.

Victor panicked.

Victor couldn’t bring himself to look Yuuri in the eye, stammering out some lame excuse he didn’t even hear himself say while the horrific shoes stained their way into his brain, mortified that he could have let Yuuri make such a gross fashion disaster and not notice it sooner. It was a travesty, a tragedy, a real crime-

It was only when he’d gotten back to his desk that he’d realised he’d totally forgotten to check which way the monstrosities had been pointing.

***

  1. **He finds an excuse to touch you all the time**



***

Victor went _to town_ testing this one.

“Yuuri, do you think my hair is soft enough?”

“Yuuri, what do you think of this watch? Does it match my skin tone?”

“Yuuri, I’m so tense... I’d love a massage right now…”

Each and every time, Victor would bat his eyelashes enticingly and stick his arm out, or flip his hair in Yuuri’s direction, or shuffle closer, or accidentally try and brush their fingers together when they looked over the paperwork, trying to encourage Yuuri to touch him in _any way at all_ …

But Yuuri didn’t bite.

Every time, he just flushed a delicate shade of strawberry red and mumbled something under his breath that Victor could never quite catch.

Victor didn’t get it.

Yuuri definitely wasn’t opposed to being touchy-feely in general. Victor had seen him with Phichit.

The pair were inseparable, nudging each other playfully, fixing each other’s hair, Phichit even leaning just a handful of inches away from Yuuri’s face while he’d fixed the clerk’s eyeliner one time in the gym changing room – and Yuuri hadn’t been bothered. Didn’t blink. Christophe had told Victor how Phichit had told him the pair of them even slept together in the same bed after they’d been drinking or fell asleep curled up on the couch when Phichit made them watch The King and the Skater one too many times.

Yuuri wasn’t averse to touch – he’d even stopped jumping so much when Chris touched his ass around the office!

But with Victor it was different.

Yuuri snatched his hand away when their fingers accidently brushed over the papers Victor was supposed to be signing.

He jumped when Victor touched his shoulder to get his attention.

When they’d been smushed up together in the revolving door, Yuuri had looked like he’d rather smash his skull into the glass rather than stay pressed up against Victor his face had been so white!

Victor got the message - don’t touch, heart sinking horribly just as it had done at the time. Yuuri definitely didn’t use every excuse he could to touch Victor…

***

  1. **Pay attention to his friends**



***

“Hey, Phichit.”

Victor smiled – bright and friendly – down at his other accounts receivable clerk from over the edge of Phichit’s desk, folding his forearms over the top of the short divider.

Phichit just blinked up at him. “Yuuri’s not here.”

Victor’s smile cracked.

“I know,” he forced out carefully, voice stiff and measured. He kept his lips curved in something of a grin though, clinging to his composure. “I wanted to talk to _you_.”

He’d never interacted much with Phichit before – at least, not without a not-so-well-hidden agenda that involved getting closer to Yuuri somehow. But this time, there were no secrets Phichit was selling and Yuuri was away from his desk at that moment – no wonder the clerk was surprised really. It just didn’t happen.

Phichit’s eyebrows jumped up into his bangs, eyes blinking round in shock. He didn’t bother trying to hide it. Victor didn’t blame him.

“Um, okay. What do you need doing?”

Victor’s heart sank. “No, it’s not about work.”

Was that really how people saw him? Someone who wasn’t interested in being friendly unless he needed something - and unless you were Yuuri Katsuki.

He could feel himself start to frown, thoughts going round and round in his head. He’d never meant to come off as so aloof, so arrogant. Maybe he should make more effort with the rest of the team, organise something fun to show how nice he was-

“Can I ask something about Christophe?” Phichit asked suddenly, pulling Victor sharply from his thoughts.

Victor blinked down, taking a moment for the words to sink in. “What about him?”

“Is he seeing anyone?”

Victor’s frown dug a little deeper. “Not that I know of…”

“You think he would be interested in a date?”

Whatever Victor might have said choked in his throat, rocked royally at how Phichit had just… _come out with it_. “Um…” he blinked, dumbly. Was it really that easy? Was it supposed to be that easy to ask someone out?

Victor only wished he was that brave…

He ended up talking with Phichit for a lot longer than he’d first intended, but it wasn’t planning a date for Yuuri… it was planning one for Chris.

***

  1. **He compliments you often**



***

Victor was ready to slam his head against the desk. He knew Yuuri didn’t. He knew it, and he hated it - not that it was Yuuri’s fault. He’d seen Yuuri look, seen him sneak glances out of the corner of his eye, seen him blush a millisecond after his head snapped away from Victor’s direction like he’d just been about to be caught out doing something he shouldn’t. But he never _said_ anything.

At first, Victor was down-heartened.

Then, it became a challenge.

He bought a new suit.

He used a glittering highlighter on his cheekbones to make his already sharp features practically _glow._

His latest plan was his hair. He knew Yuuri liked his hair, always sneaking side glances whenever his silver locks caught in the light and shone. He spent extra time making sure his locks were silky smooth, making sure his bangs fell in just the right way with the slightest of waves away from his cheekbones. He looked perfect, gorgeous, spraying a bout of weather-proof hair spray around his head before he stepped out his apartment door for work.

… he just wished he’d let the hairspray dry first.

It wasn’t until he pulled up into the office car park and went to give himself one last wink in his rear view mirror that he noticed.

His eyes shot wide with horror.

His perfectly styled, smooth locks had frizzed in the summer humidity between his front door and his car, warped and twisted and curled into something… _unnatural_. His natural tight, wispy curls framed his face and curled around the back of his head, not a single strand left straight as he’d styled it. He stared glumly at the silver ringlet sitting on his cheek, reminding him way too much of the curl of Makkachin’s fur for his liking.

He contemplated going home.

He would seriously rather dent his usually perfect attendance record than let his colleagues – let alone _Yuuri!_ – see him looking sub-par. His fingers already reached for his car keys still in the ignition, ready to flee in shame, when-

Yuuri reached up a hand from across the carpark, waving shyly.

Victor’s heart stopped.

_Damn._

He couldn’t run away now he’d been spotted…

Instead, he avoided Yuuri like the plague around the office, locked away in whatever meeting room he could find free and pretending to be on a call whenever Yuuri walked past, talking into his stapler and hoping Yuuri didn’t notice. He wasn’t proud of it - but he was a proud man, and to let Yuuri see him in his state was unacceptable.

But he couldn’t hide forever.

He slunk out of the meeting room halfway through the afternoon, needing to check the paperwork for one of the journals he’d asked Yuuri to process the month before and taking advantage of the fact that Yuuri wasn’t at his desk at that precise moment. Victor cracked open the files quickly, keen to get in and out as fast as possible.

But he wasn’t fast enough.

“Hi, Victor.”

The director went rigid at the timid voice behind him, only just stopping himself from jumping out of his skin. _Damn…_ his heart sank horribly when he locked eyes with Yuuri, feeling his cheeks flush hot with shame - especially as Yuuri’s eyes darted up to his hairline as he passed, far from subtle.

Victor couldn’t bring himself to smile back after that. “Hi.”

“Busy day?” Yuuri asked as he sat down at his desk, his own smile slipping a little at Victor’s obvious lack of enthusiasm.

Victor just sighed, shoulders slumping.

It was all over. His life was over...

“Something like that…”

He wanted to crawl away into a hole and die. He was never going to be able to live down the shame of Yuuri seeing him with his natural poodle curls sticking out at funny angles, and bouncing off his cheekbones, and -

“Your hair looks really nice today by the way,” Victor heard Yuuri say from his desk - though he didn’t have the guts to lift his gaze and see it for himself. “You should wear it curly more often.”

Victor swore his heart stopped dead in his chest, staring down wide eyed at the files for far longer than was normal.

*******

  1. **He connects with you on social media**



*******

Victor sent Yuuri friend requests. He added him on Facebook and Instagram, confident he’d found the right accounts through Phichit’s friend list. Everyone was connected in the office. They’d all clicked on that right level.

Only Yuuri didn’t follow back.

Didn’t accept Victor’s friend request.

Didn’t ask him about it.

Didn’t do… well, anything. Victor never heard anything back from the clerk, refreshing his social media on his phone every ten minutes for five miserable days and wondering if making Facebook the official work group communication platform was too obvious to force Yuuri to be friends with him.

***

  1. **He doesn’t use his phone around you**



***

Victor scoffed hard at this one - he was supposed to be enforcing the phone ban around the office! Of course, Yuuri wouldn’t use his phone around Victor!

Victor knew he used it - everyone still used them! - but he did it quietly. Subtly. Under his desk instead of eye-level with the computer screen for the whole office to see. But around Victor, when he was talking with the director… nobody used their phone when speaking with Victor, least alone his model employee.

There was no way to catch him out.

Victor reluctantly swallowed his pride.

***

  1. **He listens to you**



***

Victor was almost giving up hope on the article by the time he got to number nine. It was the same disappointing reason as the others - because Victor was Yuuri’s _boss_.

He _had_ to listen to Victor.

Victor wouldn’t like him so much for being such a good employee if he didn’t, but the point was that Yuuri wasn’t doing it by choice.

Because if he didn’t listen to Victor, he would most likely end up fired.

Victor hunched over his desk with his fist against his cheek, pouting at his phone screen miserably. He hated his job sometimes...

***

  1. **He smiles a lot around you**



Yuuri smiled - but not around Victor. He laughed with Phichit, sassed with Chris, even smirked in amusement at Yurio… but with Victor he mostly just went red and _maybe_ twitched his mouth into a shy little curve if he was in a relaxed mood that day. Smiling - as Victor knew it - didn’t really cross Yuuri’s face when he was around though.

So Victor decided the take the initiative.

“Hi, Yuuri,” he beamed, smile big, and bright, and surely so brilliant that Yuuri couldn’t help but smile back. Some people had that smile - that look that cheered you up just seeing them happy.

Victor hoped he was one of those people...

Yuuri glanced over his shoulder at Victor.

Victor had hoped Yuuri would smile, that he would take one look at Victor’s beaming face and smile back - either _genuinely_ happy or just at how ridiculous Victor was being. Honestly, Victor wasn’t so fussy anymore. He was just plain desperate.

What he hadn’t expected though, was for Yuuri to do a double take.

And _frown._

That was the opposite of a smile…

“What’s wrong?”

Victor’s smile twitched, heart skipping a beat. _Oh, shit…_ “Nothing’s wrong,” he lied through his teeth. “Why?”

“You’re smiling weird...”

Victor’s grin slapped entirely off his face at that, wiped clean with shock. He picked it up again half a second later though. “No... no, I’m not...”

“You usually smile like that when you’re talking to someone important… you know,” Yuuri shrugged, cheeks going a tad pink and eyes darting down to the floor. “Just before you roll your eyes at them when they go away….”

Victor just blinked at him, smile sliding clean off his face without a hope of coming back from that. Victor did that? He hadn’t even realised...

Yuuri’s teeth snagged his lower lip shyly. “Have I done something?”

Victor’s breath punched out of his lungs.

“No!” he said in a heartbeat - maybe just _a tad_ too fast…. “No, no - I mean… I didn’t even realise…”

He’d just smiled, stretching his lips in the practised curve that admittedly, he did normally don mostly for the important people that visited him officially at work - but those meetings always went well, so there had to be something in it, right? It was his best. And Yuuri always deserved his best.

At least, so he’d thought.

“Normally, your smile is like…” Yuuri’s eyes flickered up - bright and glittering - lips twitching at the corners like he was enjoying a private joke. “Well, your mouth kind of goes into a heart shape...”

_A heart shape._

Victor had never noticed.

It must have shown on his face - Yuuri cracked a grin of his own half a beat before his hand shot up over his mouth, muffling his giggle ever so slightly. The sound was the best thing Victor had ever heard, music to his ears. He didn’t notice his mouth curve of its own accord, still hypnotised by Yuuri’s laugh.

What he did notice though was the way he reached up and curled his fingers around Yuuri’s wrist, carefully peeling it down away from his face.

Yuuri’s smile was breathtaking.

“Yeah… Yuuri said, breathlessly. “Like that.”

 

* * *

 

“Oh God, Chris, I don’t know what to do!” Victor whined to his best friend, draped over his desk dramatically with his forehead resting on the keyboard. “Friday is tomorrow and I still have no idea if Yuuri actually likes me or not! What am I going to do?”

He’d gone through the whole stupid list - the stupid list that Chris was scrolling through on Victor’s phone beside him, desperate for advice - but with some hits and some misses, Victor was none the wiser as to if Yuuri actually liked him or not. Friday was the perfect time to know. Victor could use their work outing to the best advantage if Yuuri liked him… but he needed to _know_.

Chris just made an indignant noise beside him. “You realise you don’t do any of these things either, right?”

Victor snapped upright. “I totally do!”

His best friend just rolled his eyes at him, hitting him with his best dead-pan stare. “You totally don’t,” Chris came back. “You’re constantly on your phone waiting for Yakov to call, you forget everything so it _looks_ like you don’t listen, and I don’t know about Yuuri but you hardly ever look at me when we talk…”

Victor’s mind raced.

He thought back, mouth already open to snap back that Christophe was totally wrong and that he only did that stuff with Chris because he didn’t _like like_ Chris…

… but the more he cast his mind back, the more the protests died on his tongue.

When he’d talked to Yuuri in the kitchen, he hadn’t been turned to Yuuri, talking to the clerk side on instead. He hadn’t complimented Yuuri on anything. He didn't act nervous around him, smothering himself in his calm, confident facade like when Yuuri had called him out on his fake smile earlier...

“Oh my God…”

Beside him, Chris cocked his head to the side. “Maybe he’s waiting on you to make the first move and show him how much you like him first...”

 _It would make sense,_ Victor thought, still in a bit of a daze. Yuuri was shy like that.

He barely registered when Christophe stood up and slipped his phone back into his numb hand, clapping him on the shoulder. “Good luck.”

 

* * *

 

An hour later, Victor shook himself off and showed up at Yuuri’s desk, bright heart shaped smile - that Victor had _made sure_ in the bathroom mirror was the right shape of smile that Yuuri seemed to like - beaming on his face.

“Hey Yuuri,” he said, draped over the side of Yuuri’s desk, body angled head on to face the clerk. “Look - I’m _looking_ at you. I’ve got a lot of free time today so I’ll be able to give you _extra_ attention. And I won’t have my phone on me! No calls from Yakov, so… is that a new shirt? Can I see? Wow, the material is so soft! You look really nice today by the way. Add me on snapchat, yeah? Looking forward to Friday!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, news.... life things going to shit again so updates might be a little more haphazard again. Not sure how long until I get back on schedule and sort everything, depends on how long the impending breakdown lasts. 
> 
> Feel free to message me for updates on Tumblr if you think I need a bit of a nudge.
> 
> Sorry. Really, I am.
> 
> I really appreciate all the support this fic has got. Can't believe its gone on for so long ! ( so much for just being that one-shot xD ) You're all amazing and have absolutely blown my mind with all your amazing comments! Thank you !! ( and sorry )
> 
> Friday work trip coming soon!
> 
> ~Rae


	43. Team Building

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For JaMills

Yuuri tied the laces of his rented skates with slow, careful fingers – having already tied and untied them six times before. They just didn’t sit right, not like his own skates back at his and Phichit’s flat. The laces were worn and frayed from hundreds of other people tying them before him, rough against his fingertips.

He was nervous. He couldn’t help it. Victor was going to see him  _ skate _ – the one thing Yuuri had always been confident in himself in! But what if Victor wasn’t impressed? What if he didn’t like it? Yuuri didn’t have much else to woo him with-

A hand clapped down on his shoulder. “Excited?”

Yuuri leapt out of his skin.

His eyes were already narrowing into a glare as Phichit’s grin beamed in his peripheral vision, sitting down on the bench beside him.  His lips pursed, heart still settling back to a normal rhythm. “Phichit, this isn’t the time…”

“This is the  _ best _ time!” Phichit jittered in his skates. “Seduce him with your skating.”

“I won’t be seducing anyone in rental skates…”

If Yuuri had known their ‘work outing’ had involved taking out the team – and Victor’s visiting boss from St Petersburg – skating, he would have brought his actual skates, given Victor a real show with jumps and spins… as it was, Victor hadn’t told anybody what they’d be doing on Friday and they were all in rental. Rental skates were only good for falling over in chaotic, unflattering slides.

He wasn’t looking forward to showing that to Victor.

Nor the Vice President of Finance of Stammi Vicino.

Yakov Feltsman was already on the ice, with his scowl and duffel coat firmly in place, standing assuredly and confident like someone who had spent a lifetime on and off the ice. Yuuri wouldn’t be surprise. Russians were always good at skating, he’d thought – if the whizzing Yuri Plisetsky was anything to go by at least. But that was all the VP was doing, just … standing there, watching.

_ Judging. _

Yuuri swallowed the lump in his throat thickly. He wasn’t looking forward to this, almost wishing they were back at the office…

The clump of walking skates distracted him to his left.

And his heart skipped a beat when his eyes landed on Victor. The director was dressed casually as they all were – with the exception of Mr Feltsman - with black sweatpants and a long sleeved black workout top with gloves to match. The shirt hugged his slim torso unfairly. Yuuri let his eyes wander, following down his strong chest, along the path of cobblestone abs, to where the hem of the shirt rode up ever so slightly for just a slither of skin-

“Hi, Yuuri,” the director smiled, snapping Yuuri’s eyes back up to his face. His head tilted to the side. “Need any help?”

Yuuri opened his mouth-

“Yes,” Phichit answered for him before he got the chance, standing up abruptly. “Yes, he does need help. Desperately. Very desperately. Thanks for offering! See you on the ice, Yuuri.”

Yuuri just choked on air.

Phichit was  _ the worst,  _ he thought, watching his best friend walk away with practised ease and a very smug grin on his face, vowing revenge one day… but he was also the  _ absolute best¸  _ as Victor turned his bright blue eyes back to him and him alone and his boss’s smile widened.

“Here,” he said, voice dropping a tone lower than before and his thick eyelashes fluttering gracefully. “Let me help.”

“Oh, no, really I-”

The words died in Yuuri’s throat though as Victor smoothly slid down onto one knee and his hands went to Yuuri’s skates, eyes flickering up along the long line of Yuuri’s legs. They sparkled wickedly, glittering through his eyelashes.

Yuuri gulped, feeling his heart stop.

Victor’s fingers gathered up his loose laces, tying them slowly and delicately. “Have you skated much before?”

Yuuri’s brain cells didn’t work.

“Um,” he scrambled to remember how words worked, blood pooling hot on his cheeks. “Y-yeah, a little. My friend runs the local rink back in Japan so they used to let me use it whenever I wanted.”

_ A little _ , he scolded himself almost instantly. Like he didn’t still skate every week, like he hadn’t been the best in his class in Japan, like his coach hadn’t said he had all the potential to compete professionally if he’d ever wanted to …

Victor’s eyes just sparkled from down the length of his thigh though, impressed. “Wow,” he smiled, lips curving smoothly. “I never knew you were so talented.”

Yuuri made an unintelligible noise in the back of his throat.

He didn’t know where to look. He couldn’t watch the ice because he knew Phichit’s smug grin was waiting for him, he couldn’t look around because it would be rude, but he couldn’t look at Victor because he was… well,  _ Victor _ –  _ and he nearly had his head between Yuuri’s knees! _ It wasn’t how Yuuri had imagined Victor getting down on his knees for him. Yuuri couldn’t, he just couldn’t-

“How does that feel?”

He hadn’t even realised Victor had finished.

He glanced down - tight, perfectly tied laces lined the front of his boots, tied by Victor’s graceful fingers. The director leaned back from his work, satisfied, and Yuuri stood up. He shuffled his weight slightly in the boots. 

_ A bit tight _ , he thought, but – “Good,” he said anyway. The smile Victor beamed up at him was more than worth it.

He couldn’t stop feeling nervous. He must have straightened his shirt down his torso and readjusted his glasses awkwardly about a hundred times as Victor stood up, flashing Yuuri cheeky little smiles as he wobbled ever so slightly on his skates. His fingers steadied himself at the barrier as he stepped on the ice, Yuuri pulling himself together just a heartbeat behind him. 

“What about you?” he found the courage to ask after mulling the sentence over three million times in his head - it still came out a fraction higher pitched than he’d have liked...

Victor glanced over his shoulder, one skate on the ice. “Hm?”

“H-have you skated much before?”

Victor used to skate all the time back in Russia. With his own skates with golden blades and everything, but instead what came out of the director’s mouth was – “Never.”

He wasn’t sure what possessed him to say it. 

But maybe it could work in his favour…“Will you teach me, Yuuri?” he asked smoothly, fluttering his eyelashes over his shoulder.

He watched Yuuri all but melt.

“Oh-um,” Yuuri’s cheeks flushed red, colours flooding right up to the tips of his ears. It was adorable. “Y-yeah, sure.”

Yuuri was the best. 

He took Victor’s hand the moment the director gave a fake wobble on the ice, clutching his fingers tight like Victor might slip away the moment he let go. Victor absolutely loved it, gripping Yuuri’s hand back just as firm.

He skated slow and clumsily, trying to remember how he had felt when he’d first stepped onto the ice as a young boy. He could barely remember it, honestly. He hoped his stumbles and wobbles were convincing enough though - enough to keep him on his feet, but enough for Yuuri to slip a little closer and his hands tighten around Victor’s to try and stop the director from falling. They did slow laps around the rink, always an arms length away from the barrier - just like any newbie would want to be, Victor kept reminding himself, reaching out every now and then to keep up his act.

He loved it. He loved every second of his hand in Yuuri’s, gripping shamelessly tight and heart stopping every time Yuuri threw a shy smile across his way when Victor tripped on his toe pick - not always on purpose. It had still been a while since he’d skated properly...

And when one of his stumbles went just a little too far and he nearly pitched forward off his feet entirely, he loved it even more.

Yuuri’s hands snapped to Victor’s hips.

Victor’s breath hitched, watching the white of the ice loom closer and closer up to greet him as his balance faltered… but Yuuri’s firm grip on his hips held him sure, held him upright against the pull of gravity. HIs fingers dug in through the material of Victor’s sweatpants, clinging on tight.

Victor held his breath while the world stilled again, heart in his mouth and ice still bright under his wide eyes. He didn’t plunge any closer to it though, held firm by Yuuri’s strong hands. 

They yanked him back, skates slipping on the beneath him as Victor jerked upright again… right back against Yuuri.

Arms wrapped tight around his middle, feeling the fast rise and fall of Yuuri’s chest against his back. Victor’s fingers reached for Yuuri’s around his stomach, holding on tight. He was gasping for breath too, feeling the way his body strained against Yuuri’s tight grip with every sharp inhale.

“You okay?” Yuuri asked over his shoulder, sounding breathless.

Victor didn’t remember how words worked enough to answer.

 

* * *

Later in the changing room, Victor smiled at Yuuri as he left with Phichit, pulled along by his best friend’s demanding hand out the door. The flush still burning high on his cheeks was adorable, Victor sure he was sporting a similar blush on his own. He wasn’t ashamed. Far from it, heart skipping a traitorous beat in his chest. 

“I thought you skated back in Russia,” Chris asked from behind him, buttoning up shirt slowly and running a hand through his blonde hair.

Victor opened his mouth to answer-

“He did,” Yakov growled for him as he passed though, scowl bitter on his face. His shoulder knocked Victor’s. “I taught him.”

Victor closed his mouth again… and gulped.

_ Busted.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am still behind on replying to messages - I am so sorry! I will get back on everything again. I've finally got some help at work, got a while until my next exam, and Love Island is finally over so I get an extra hour of my daily life back for writing xD 
> 
> See you on Friday!


	44. Team Building, Part 2

“I’m sure I don’t need to remind you about our compliance policy, Vitya,” Yakov said quietly at the head of the restaurant table, not looking up from his meal as he said it.

He didn’t need to.

Victor stiffened of his own accord next to him, fork pausing over his own food. He swallowed thickly. “Not at all, Yakov,” he said stiffly in return, fork spearing his potato a little more viciously than necessary. “I know what I’m doing.”

A gruff huff was all he got in reply.

He knew exactly what Yakov was referring to – Yuuri.

He fought the urge to look down the line of the table where he could hear the rest of the team laughing and chatting – having a good time, like this whole team building thing was supposed to be about! Victor couldn’t relax though. Not with Yakov next to him, watching his every move and knowing Victor well enough to know what was going through his head as he did it.

Yakov knew.

He knew what Victor thought about Yuuri.

They’d known each other too long for Victor to be able to deny it. Yakov had practically raised him after his father had died, stepping into the role with the same solemn formality he approached everything. Especially this; especially Victor getting way too close for his own good, like Icarus flying too close to the sun. Victor knew it too. He could see it from a mile away.

Still, he wasn’t afraid to get burned. Not as long as it meant something…

Victor’s fingers tightened around his cutlery, trying to steer his mind into the humdrum of business talk he needed to settle with Yakov at some point rather than the smile further down the table, the Bambi brown eyes, and adorable red cheeks-

“Fraternising with staff is strictly forbidden, Vitya.”

He’d said it.

It was like a bucket of ice water thrown over Victor, splashing him sharply clear of his daydream. Victor’s breath caught, eyes flashing wide for one short moment.

He forced a stiff smile on his face though, hoping Yakov hadn’t noticed. Of course, he’d noticed though. He noticed everything.

“Don’t worry, Yakov,” he just said, voice sickeningly sweet even to his own ears. “After seeing so much of me outside of work hours today, I’m sure he positively hates the sight of me.”

Victor only half wished it wasn’t true.

 

* * *

Yuuri positively loved the sight of Victor. The way the light caught his pearlescent skin from the window, the way his elegant fingers handled the cutlery, watching those pink lips close around mouthfuls of the delicious food-

“Your boyfriend’s getting chewed out again.”

Yuuri choked on his water.

Phichit was grinning beside him when he recovered – with a few hard, helping thumps to his back – too happy, too smug.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Yuuri just coughed back at him, eyes watering.

Victor was his boss –  _ just _ his boss. The boss that was currently sitting at the head of the table with  _ his  _ boss, mercifully just out of earshot. To insinuate anything more between them would be wrong – a  _ sackable offence _ , Yuuri was pretty sure, depending on how it got found out. Most ended in scandal and slander… and sacking.

But Victor did look in trouble at the end of the table. His smile was just a little bit forced. His eyes didn’t crinkle in the corners like normal. He looked too stiff, too proper. What was he talking about with Yakov?

“Sounds like it from the way he never shuts up about you,” Yurio chipped in from over the table with a growl and matching glare.

Yuuri’s heart leapt into his mouth. “N-no, we just…”

_ What _ ?

They worked out together? They blushed whenever they talked? They had light-hearted chats over the Skype system? They found every excuse they could to see each other? They stayed late to have the office to themselves? Yuuri babysit his dog? Victor called himself Yuuri’s work-husband?

Yuuri lost his trail of thought with a blush, frown dug into his brow for reasons he couldn’t remember. “He talks about me?”

Phichit cackled beside him.


	45. Fire Drill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this happened last week...

Monthend was busy. Monthend was stressful. Yuuri was just about to excuse himself to the bathroom for a little cry he was so unhappy with how much work monthend was piling onto him, but -

The fire alarm shrieked.

Everybody jumped… but nobody moved.

Fire drills happened. Every fourth or fifth Tuesday, they happened - but normally with an announcement just before they let the damned thing loose. Yuuri hadn’t heard any announcement for this one. To be fair, he was so wrapped up in his own head that he could have missed it, turning his eyes back to his computer screen and waiting for the noise to end.

… but then it didn’t stop.

Heads lifted.

Yuuri’s eyes met Phichit’s across their adjoining desks, both wearing matching frowns as the alarm rattled on. It had never gone on this long before.

“Is this real?” three different voices muttered.

Yuuri tried to ignore the way his heartbeat picked up in his chest, palms getting sweaty over his mouse and keyboard. The alarm was still ringing. Should it be doing that? When was long enough to know if it was real or not? He didn’t know. He’d never even thought about it - he didn’t even know where the nearest fire exit was! He suddenly wished he’d paid more attention at that stupid fire procedure lecture two years ago-

Everyone looked to Victor.

It wasn’t surprising - he was the most senior member of staff in the office, sat calmly at his desk, crystal blue eyes sharp and thinking carefully. Yuuri knew he was weighing up carefully, drinking every detail of the situation. Yuuri looked to him too - he trusted the director more than he’d care to admit. 

Victor stood slowly from behind his desk, his brow furrowed. 

“Okay,” he finally said over the racket. “Let’s go.”

Victor grabbed his suit jacket from the back of his chair and draped it over his shoulder before he turned on his heel, striding calmly but quickly across the office. 

Everyone followed without hesitation. 

They grabbed their phones, locked their desktops, and followed. Yuuri caught a glimpse of a backpack or two on his way out - one person still rifling through their stuff at their desk instead of following the crowd - but Yuuri just interlocked his fingers with Phichit’s and let his best friend guide him, trying to forget about the sea of bodies closing in around him crowding towards the same one narrow door.

Yuuri had never noticed that door before. It was cut out in the outer wall of the building, tucked away next to the printer office just out of immediate sight. Yuuri had certainly never spotted it from across the office.

He was glad at least Victor had known.

Yuuri gripped Phichit’s fingers tight as they walked through the door and down the fire stairwell that for some reason had plush carpet flooring and a painting on the wall.

His round eyes scanned around, searching for silver.

It was hopeless though - there were too many heads, too many bodies. Yuuri couldn’t see Victor. It wasn’t until everyone spilled out into the back of the carpark, all crowding into the farthest back bay that Yuuri found him again, phone pressed to his ear and mouth a thin line. He didn’t look pleased, whatever was going on. 

“I don’t see any smoke…” Phichit said beside him, distracting him. He craned his neck, like he somehow might be able to see over the top of the building. “Maybe it is a drill.”

“They’ve never done an actual evacuation though.”

Yuuri had no idea what was going on.

He hoped it was a drill though - he hadn’t grabbed his car keys on the way out, the thought not even crossing his mind until now it was too late. He’d be sat on the curb hitching a lift home if the building burned down.

His eyes strayed across the lot to Victor again. This time, Victor was talking to Chris, looking no less irritated than before with his arms folded tight across his chest. 

He didn’t look over at Yuuri.

Yuuri tried not to think about it.

It was another fifteen minutes before the fire wardens gave the all clear, beckoning everyone back into the building.

The rumours flew immediately.

“Someone was smoking in the bathroom?”

“I heard someone say there was an actual fire.”

“Was it just me, or have they spent more money on decorating the fire escapes than the actual office?”

Yuuri didn’t play much attention, still watching for Victor out of the corner of his eye. The director still hadn’t looked at him. Why wasn’t he looking at him? Yuuri would have thought he’d at least have gotten a reassuring smile, or a calming nod, or … just  _ something _ … but Victor hadn’t even  _ looked _ at him. 

Then finally-

“It was the builders.”

Yuuri had been miles away thinking mournfully about the director’s crystal blue eyes - that  _ still hadn’t looked at him all day  _ \- when Phichit crashed through his fantasy, knocking his chair playfully against Yuuri’s as he slid across their neighbouring desks. There was a shit-eating grin on his face, broad and bright.

It took a few minutes to catch up to what Phichit had said. 

“What?” he blinked dumbly.

“The builders set the fire alarm off,” Phichit elaborated. “Apparently they were working on the roof and drilled so much the dust set off the fire alarm.”

“Oh…” Yuuri had nearly forgotten about the fire alarm. “ _ Damn _ ...”

Phichit shook his head, grin getting wider. “No, it gets better. Apparently the building is set up for the first floor windows and roof panels to open when there’s a fire… and they were standing on the roof panels when the alarm went off!” 

Yuuri’s eyes popped wide, mouth falling open. “Oh my God!”

“They’re lucky the damned things failed. If they hadn’t-”

Phichit scrunched up laughing, hand smothering over his mouth to cover up his ugly chortles and eyes crinkling in the corners with glee. His best friend really was awful, Yuuri couldn’t help but think.

“You mean, they would have fallen through the roof?!” Yuuri worked out aloud, just to be clear. Phichit nodded. “Oh my God...”

“Just imagine it,” Phichit rolled his eyes dreamily up to the ceiling. “They’d have to send us home and shut the building for investigation.”

“...okay, who wants to take one for the team?”


	46. Office Terminology

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Dedica - congratulations on your new kitty!! <3

Yurio had come back from his lunch break ready to crack on for once and in the mood to actually make an effort - because _sometimes_ he could be nice like that - but then the first sight of the paperwork on his desk killed that feeling flat.

It wasn’t the papers themselves that were the problem. A handful of invoices he could handle, whatever he needed to do with them.

The post-it note on top of the invoices though… yeah, that was a problem.

“Okay, who the fuck left this on my desk?”

_FU._

Written in thick black marker the two capital letters stood boldly out from the pale yellow post-it, glaring, mocking, and-

Yurio ripped it off, crinkling the paper viciously.

Who was the wise guy? His piercing blue eyes scanned around the office for the culprit, for the one with the balls to eff him via post it note and not to his face. Chulanont, Katsuki - surely Otabek wouldn’t, would he? The thought sent his heart plummeting, lump building in his throat-

A ping from his computer distracted him - incoming email. _Great,_ Yurio rolled his eyes as he leaned in over the keyboard, squinting at his inbox.

_Victor_.

Even when the old bastard had the afternoon off work, he was still bothersome, emailing incessantly from his iPhone.

Yurio wasn’t even planning on reading it. He didn’t care anymore. He would delete it, ignore it, pretend he’d never received it, because _who cared_ , really? If it was anything really that important than Victor would do it himself. It was Friday afternoon, and Yurio was already pissed. He couldn’t deal with Victor’s nonsense today. His mouse hovered over the delete button, an inch away from clicking it when-

“That bastard…” he breathed, voice deadly quiet.

“Who’s a bastard?”

Yurio leapt out of his skin.

He hadn’t noticed Otabek creep up behind him. Not even creep - he’d just walked. Like a normal person, quiet but far from completely ignorable. Unless Yurio was involved it seemed, completely oblivious to anything but his own insult.

Yurio’s hand shot to his racing heart before he could help it, catching his breath sharply. Of all the people to make a fool out of himself in front of, it had to be Otabek…

His fellow clerk wore a soft smirk as he sat down at his desk beside Yurio’s, brown eyes sparkling with amusement.

For a moment, it made Yurio forget everything.

...just for a moment.

“Victor,” he all but spat out as the rage hit him afresh, biting back with a vengeance. He could feel the email glaring at him from his computer, mocking, an absolute insult. “He sent me this stupid email - and I’m guessing he’s the one that left the note too, that prick. He could have at least said it to my face. What the hell did I do?”

The wheels of Otabek’s chair swished smoothly as he pushed himself across the connected desks, leaning over Yurio’s keyboard to look at his computer screen.

The email from Victor - Subject: _Reminder to FU_ \- filled the screen.

That was all it said.

_Reminder to FU._

No explanation, no clue as to what Yurio might have done to offend his boss - he hadn’t even spoken to the dude that morning! What could he have possibly done wrong?! Maybe could file some sort of lawsuit with HR for harassment or something-

“Um, Yuri.”

“Hm?”

“You know that _‘FU’_ means ‘ _follow up’_ , right?”

Yurio swore his heart stopped.

“Did we follow these suppliers up for the credit notes we’re due? Looks like these invoices are for the stock we sent back last week, so we’re waiting on a credit-”

“I knew that,” Yuri blubbered, feeling his cheeks smart with how red hot they were. “I totally knew that. Shut up. I knew that. I was just testing you. Victor is still an asshole though. What are doing invading my space like that? Go away, I’ve got work to do.”

Otabek pressed his lips together tight to hold back his snigger, slipping silently back to his seat at his own desk.

He swore he heard little mutters of ‘ _I knew that’_ coming from Yurio’s desk every now and then for the next twenty minutes or so.


	47. The Thirst of Victor Nikiforov

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Shiezz, puppyfacetwo , Pupcuz1, Crystara, ayawanderlust, and all the other thirsty people that wanted Victor's daydream to be a little less PG.

Victor was officially screwed. Monthend was approaching  _ way  _ too quickly, he was stuck in a bunch of ridiculous meetings, and while he knew he shouldn’t be thinking at all about Yuuri Katsuki after what Yakov had said to him during his brief visit … Victor couldn’t stop thinking about Yuuri Katsuki.

“What’s going on?”

The meeting room door clicked softly behind Christophe as he slipped inside, breaking through Victor’s trail of thought. 

Victor’s eyes flickered up - and he sighed heavily, running his fingers through his hair. He leaned back in his chair, gaze spanning around the empty meeting room. They had - what? - fifteen minutes before reality was knocking on his door again. Maybe he should get some of it off his chest…

Of course, Christophe had been able to tell that something was up. Hell, even Yuuri probably knew something was up! Victor hadn’t exactly been subtle.

He opened his mouth… but God, where did he start?

“Don’t tell me you’re taking what Yakov said to heart?”

Chris hit the nail bang on the head.

Victor’s heart thunked to the bottom of his ribcage and his head dropped into his hands, elbows propped up on the tabletop.

“Oh God, Chris,” he groaned. “What am I going to do? I can’t even look at him.”

Everytime he did, he just had Yakov’s words echo in his head - no fraternising with the staff. Victor had never had an issue with that rule before - but he’d never met someone like Yuuri before, someone who was sweet, and seductive, and  _ good at his job- _

“Can’t you give Yuuri a job not directly under you so that Yuuri can be  _ under  _ y-”

“Please-” Victor put his hand up, pressing his eyes shut against the onslaught of NSFW thoughts bombarding his brain. It didn’t take much when it came to Yuuri. “-don’t finish that sentence.”

It really didn’t take much.

Yuuri had been reaching up to a tall cabinet the other day for a coffee mug, pushed up on his toes, strong thighs flexing…

… and Victor hadn’t been able to get the thought of those thighs wrapped around his head for the rest of the day. 

It took embarrassingly little to get Victor’s mind in the gutter. Maybe it was because it had been so long since Victor had been with anybody like that and now that he had a crush it all came roaring back. Maybe Yuuri was just a vixen. Maybe Victor was just an old perv. 

Either way, all he knew was that even after the board members filed into the meeting room, Victor was still mulling over what Christophe had said. 

And it all went south after that.

Just like his blood flow. 

He couldn’t keep his mind on the meeting - no, Victor was too busy thinking about his favourite clerk in …  _ very unprofessional  _ situations.

Like Yuuri bending down to pick up his pen, legs straight and ass tight in his trousers, casting a wicked eye back at Victor through his thick, dark eyelashes.

Like Yuuri  _ falling _ into Victor’s lap when he brought him his papers to sign.

Like Yuuri in an office pencil skirt and heels -  _ oh God _ , the heels! Victor could just imagine the way it would accentuate the curves of his legs, right up to his thick, shapely hips-

“Victor?”

Victor blinked back into the room at the sound of his name, blinking one too many times to be casual. He cleared his throat awkwardly, feeling how dry it was. When he reached for his glass though, it was already empty.

He tried to cover the move of reaching for it but reaching his arm smoothly back instead, running his fingers through his hair and rolling his eyes up to the ceiling.

He hoped it looked more thoughtful than just the tyraid of  _ ‘fuck, fuck, fuck’ _ he was actually thinking instead.

“Yes,” he stumbled, having no idea what he was supposed to be agreeing to. “Good, good. Just, er… good stuff. I agree.”

He caught Christophe’s eye across the table - who was just staring at his friend with a frown and a slack jaw. Victor’s heart sank. He must have sounded like a real idiot if even Christophe wasn’t willing to indulge him. 

Finally, Christophe shook his head is dismay… and clapped his hands together loudly, drawing the attention away from the director. “I think we should call lunch, don’t you?”

Victor could have kissed him. 

One by one, the board members stood from their chairs, grumbling quietly amongst themselves and Victor was sure he heard his name tossed about somewhere. He didn't care. He really didn't - and he deserved it anyway, even if he did. He'd contributed nothing to the meeting so far but a wandering mind and a soft semi behind his fly. He was supposed to be better than this.

A quiet knock rapped on the door.

Victor sensed who it was long before he lifted his head, long before he met those cinnamon eyes behind blue rimmed glasses, before those red cheeks peeked around the doorway-

Victor cleared his throat, folding his hands together on the tabletop.  "Yuuri?"

He winced at his tone - had his voice always been that high?

If Yuuri noticed, he didn't let it show.  

"Um, Vic- Mr Nikiforov," the clerk stumbled, pushing his his glasses further up his nose nervously. Victor didn't miss the way he gulped, Adam's apple bobbing. "T-the catering company is here with your lunch."

_ A perfectly reasonable _ excuse.

Victor tried not to be too disappointed. It wasn't like he'd been daydreaming about bending Yuuri over his desk for the last two hours -

"Ah," he swallowed thickly, forcing his mind out of the gutter. "Thank you, Yuuri. We'll be there shortly." Victor's reluctantly dragged his eyes away from the vixen in the doorway to the rest of the room. "Gentlemen? Shall we?"

More d isapproving looks shot in Victor’s direction, that Victor didn’t dare return, too purely embarrassed. He was glad when the room started to clear, finally feeling like he had the space to breathe again at last. One of the most important meetings of the year… and Victor was too busy thinking about his clerk in tight pencil skirts and heels bending over. He deserved every inch of the shame they threw his way.

He dropped his head in his hands again the moment the room was clear, groaning into his fingers. Well, almost clear...

“Victor,” Christophe said from the doorway, holding the door open. “You coming?”

Lunch sounded good.

Fresh air sounded good.

Victor braced his hands on the arms of his chair, pushing himself up slowly to follow his friend out and hopefully clear his head as he so desperately needed. He stopped almost instantly though, eyes popping wide at a  _ distinct  _ discomfort.

And a sight outside the meeting room. 

Yuuri had dropped something. 

Yuuri had dropped something right outside the meeting room - facing  _away_ from the meeting room - that left Victor with a truly unfair sight of Yuuri's real _assets, s_ queezed into tight, shameless trousers that turned Victor's semi into an instant, raging-

“Um,” he shuffled awkwardly in his chair, settling back down quickly. 

He refused to look down. He couldn’t look down. For the sake of the last of his dignity, he  _ absolutely could not look down.  _ He was only all too aware of the tent in his trousers that was there waiting for him. He guessed he’d indulged in those thoughts about Yuuri just a little too much... but he also couldn't look away from the very real sight in front of him, bent over in exactly the right position that Victor had been daydreaming about all morning. 

“No,” he swallowed thickly, hoping the blush on his cheeks wasn’t too obvious. His eyes still didn't move though, still watching the pert shift of Yuuri's ass as he stood up straight again, retrieved pen back in his hand. Victor hoped he would drop it again... “I think I’ll just stay back for a bit and, er… finish up.”

Victor had a line. 

And he drew it very firmly at waving his boner around in front of the board members. It simply wouldn't do.

For a moment, Chris frowned in the doorway...

...then his brain caught up and his eyes shot down, blinking wide right down to Victor's  _problem_ like he could see it right through the table itself. A wicked grin curled on his lips,  smirking knowingly. 

“ _ Finish, _ huh?” he winked, making Victor groan aloud. “Fine, I’ll leave you to…  _ finish… _ ”

"Chris..."

It didn't matter -Chris was already gone.

And so was Yuuri.

Victor let his head fall back into his hands again, letting his frustration tumble freely from his lips freely in the form of creative swear words in all manner of languages. Sometimes he really hated his best friend. 


	48. Special Office Visitors

“Oh my God…” Phichit gasped, glancing up over the top of his monitor. “Yuuri… Yuuri, look! I can’t even! Oh my God, they’re too cute!”

“What the…”

Yuuri followed his best friend’s gaze, frown already in place and mouth hovering open a little in curiosity. His jaw fully dropped when he saw the doorway though, gasp slipping shamelessly through his lips. His eyes glowed, round as dinner plates.

Victor was there - and he was holding a _baby._

“Oh my God…” Yuuri breathed.

He’d never seen anything cuter.

Victor was beaming down at the little bundle in his arms, the tiny baby cradled delicately in the crook of his arm with her little podgy legs around his middle and her head resting on his shoulder. Her eyes blinked wearily, tiny fist curling and uncurling over Victor’s chest as she slowly woke up.

“Look at who’s come to visit everyone,” Victor said softly, not taking his eyes off the bundle of purple in his arms. “Isn’t she _gorgeous_!”

Yuuri couldn’t take it. His brain was short circuiting, his life flashing before his eyes - the cuteness was killing him! And when the baby started cooing, whining softly at being roused from her slumber… Yuuri just melted.

His knees felt weak as Victor dipped down to press a kiss to the baby’s forehead, just over the top of her purple headband. She looked so tiny against his bicep, subtly bulging against the sleeve of his shirt as he reached round to cup the back of her head, rocking her gently against his shoulder.

Of course, Yuuri knew who the baby was. He wasn’t the least bit surprised when Yuuko walked through the door after Victor, pushing a wide three seated pram. A blue clad baby sat in the middle seat.

The last triplet - dressed in pink - was proudly paraded in the arms of her father, Takashi, half a beat behind his wife, brilliant smiles on the parents' faces.

God, Yuuri was glad to see them…

“Sorry to bother everyone,” Yuuko beamed around, not looking the least bit sorry as people started to flock around the little ones. “We thought we’d stop by and say hi.”

Yuuri hesitated to rush up to the new parents, letting everyone else see the babies first. He’d visited them the day after they’d been born after all. He hadn’t seen them anywhere near as much as he should have since then though, nine weeks passing by all too quickly. They’d already grown so much, growing into creatures even more adorable than he remembered. Yuuri made a mental note to make more effort to visit his godchildren more often.

But before that, someone would need to scoop him off the floor - because the sight of _Victor with a baby_ absolutely melted him.

“I thought there was a rule that you weren’t allowed to bring in children anymore,” Yurio cut in grumpily, folding his arms across his chest as he saddled up to the group behind Otabek. Yuuri didn’t miss the way he pushed up on his toes to get a look at the babies over Otabek’s shoulder though...

Yuuri remembered that email too… “Only with a director’s written permission.” 

“Which I will happily provide,” Victor backed up without looking up from the child he carried, baby Axel now holding onto the director’s finger with her little hand. Victor was simply glowing, cheeks pink and rosy.

Yuuri could have looked at him forever.

“You’re not their director, old man.”

Victor’s eyes finally tore away from the baby, glancing up over her little head to stare calmly - but dangerously - at Yurio. “I will fight you for this, Yuri,” he said, cupping the back of Axel’s head to hold her close again. “Don’t you dare take this darling away from me.”

Yurio would have to get through Yuuri too - the clerk was ready to sell his soul to preserve the image in front of him, to fight tooth and nail.

Victor with a baby.

_Victor with a baby!_

...Victor with _their_ baby?

The thought ran wild in Yuuri’s head, just imagining the director with a tiny bundle with a spat of black hair instead of brown, with pale skin and brilliant blue eyes, while Yuuri peered around Victor’s bicep, arms around his husband’s broad shoulders-

He brought the dream crashing to a halt before it went too far, feeling his heart skip a longing beat. Oh God - why did he do this to himself?

“Feeling broody yet, Yuuri?” Phichit chuckled quietly, grinning over his shoulder at the mess of his best friend.

A longing whine was all that answered him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Someone brought their baby into work today and I couldn’t take it. Too cute. TOO CUTE!!! Send help, it killed me with cuteness <3


	49. The Thirst of Victor Nikiforov, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Cylonmia
> 
> **Warning!**  
>  I'm not sure if this is me being paranoid but this chapter is slightly above the Teen rating and dabbles with mature themes a bit more explicitly than previous chapters have. It's not explicit. You don't see anything. But you know what's going on. Just please don't come after me with pitchforks afterwards if you don't like it.

“What do I do, Phichit?” Yuuri asked glumly, cheek propped up by his fist. “What if he hates me?”

Victor still hadn’t spoken to him.

Yuuri had kind of hoped that walking into the meeting room yesterday – no matter how fleetingly – might have broken some of the tension between them, started to mend the bridges… but he’d been wrong. Victor was still avoiding him. 

Very obviously.

Just this morning, Yuuri had been bent over his desk - connecting his mouse to the back of his laptop - when Victor had walked in, catching the director out of the corner of his eye.

Victor had done an instant U-turn, striding right back out of the office.

All Yuuri caught was the flash of panic in his eyes before he went, bright blue eyes popping wide.

It sucked. It really sucked.

“He definitely doesn’t hate you,” Phichit said calmly, clicking away like his best friend wasn’t a wilting mess beside him. “Did you see the way he looked at you after that meeting? He couldn’t take his eyes off you.”

“He can’t even look at me now…”

“Make him look.”

“Phichit…”

Yuuri didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t force Victor to want to spend time with him – and he didn’t want to. But he wished he knew what had changed. If Victor didn’t like him as much as Yuuri liked him then that was fine – they were workmates after all, not boyfriend and boyfriend – but he just wished he  _ knew.  _ Instead, he didn’t know anything, and a thousand different possibilities were running through his head, each one driving him deeper into his spiral of anxiety and overthinking. It was a never-ending cycle.

Perhaps Phichit realised this as he sighed, twisting round in his chair and settling a careful hand on Yuuri’s shoulder.

“Look,” he said, holding his best friend’s eye gentle. “Go and take a break. Go wash your face, clear your mind … just try and forget about it. He’ll come round in time. He’s probably just busy with work since Yakov was here.”

Yuuri’s expression didn’t lift, mouth tugging down in the corners. “And what if it’s me?”

Phichit just shrugged. “He’s not sacked you yet,” he reasoned aloud. “So you can’t have done anything that bad, right?”

Yuuri hadn’t done anything at all.

Sure, he’d helped Victor with his ice skating at the rink for their team building but Victor hadn’t said anything at the time and everything after that had been work as usual. Yuuri hadn’t done anything different. But it was one thing knowing it – it was another convincing his anxiety riddled brain that it was true.

“I suppose…” Yuuri reluctantly agreed after a moment, fighting the contradicting thoughts pounding inside his skull. He didn’t want to listen. He didn’t want to think about all the other bad possibilities…

“Just go,” Phichit said again, tapping Yuuri’s shoulder. “Take a few minutes. Go get some coffee or something.”

Yuuri didn’t want coffee. He didn’t want tea, or water, or even one of the biscuits he’d seen laid out on the cafeteria table for people to take as they pleased. His eyes travelled wistfully across the office to the empty desk across the room. Victor wasn’t there.

He just wanted things the way they used to be.

But Phichit was probably right – he needed to take his mind off it. Moping over Victor wasn’t going to help him fixed whatever he’d done to offend him.

The bathroom was empty when Yuuri dragged himself inside, fingertips lingering on the door behind him enough that it didn’t make a sound as it slipped shut. He groaned inside his head at his reflection staring back at him in the mirror – shoulders slumping, eyes dull, mouth downturned enough to make his already round face look even more chubby and unattractive. He looked miserable. No wonder Victor didn’t want to be seen with him…

Water would probably do him some good though, like Phichit said. He needed to shake himself out of this.

He reached for the tap, fingers closing around the handle to twist the water running when –

“ _ Uhn…” _

Yuuri froze.

His eyes popped wide in the mirror, watching the blood drain from his face and his mouth drop open in shock. 

He knew that voice.

Victor didn’t sigh silently. So many times Yuuri had heard him stretch or sigh after a long day’s work in the office – and the cutest little groan always followed, soft and delicate. Yuuri had long gotten used to the little sounds Victor made, the vulnerability in his voice so distinct when he sighed, or moaned, or groaned, or-

“ _ Ha…” _

That wasn’t a sigh.

Not an  _ innocent  _ sigh anyway.

Yuuri wasn’t stupid. He might be young, and naïve, and inexperienced – but he wasn’t totally frigid that he didn’t recognise pleasure when he heard it. 

Like the sound coming from the closed doored bathroom stall behind him.

Yuuri knew what it took to get a sound like that, the knowledge shocking, and stunning, and completely unexpected-

_ “Mm, Yuuri…” _

Victor didn’t just like Yuuri.

He  _ liked _ Yuuri.

Yuuri just stared at himself in the mirror, frozen in place. He didn’t know what to do, unable to move, stuck listening in to Victor clearly jerking off thinking about Yuuri. Yuuri could hear the director’s heavy breathing, muffled by smothering fingers, could hear the faint wet sounds of Victor’s spit slicked hand moving… 

Oh God, Yuuri hadn’t been expecting this.

He couldn’t believe Victor was doing this here.  _ Now. At work! _ Couldn’t he have at least waited until he’d gotten home?

A part of him wasn’t complaining though – at home, Yuuri wouldn’t get to listen. He’d have never known what sounds Victor made when he was aroused, when he was pleased. And it send a thrill through him knowing that Victor was wrecked enough by whatever he was thinking about Yuuri that it simply couldn’t wait until later. 

He slapped a hand over his own mouth, just in time to catch the gasp that bolted through his lips. He hoped Victor hadn’t heard. He didn’t want him to stop.

The fapping noises got faster, louder, Yuuri feeling the blush beat itself darker into his cheeks with every other beat from the bathroom stall and his breaths hitch quietly when he heard Victor’s gasps pick up in pace too. What was he thinking about? Yuuri wished he could know, wondering what it was that the director liked.

“ _ Ah, yes…Yuuri...” _

_ Yuuri…  _ he liked Yuuri.

Yuuri didn’t know what to do.

He needed to go. He needed to leave and give Victor privacy and pretend that he’d  _ never  _ been a part of this… but he still couldn’t move, frozen as Victor’s little noises got higher pitched, softer and more delicate with every passing breath until-

A strangled sigh bled through the stall door, the bathroom going quiet as the fapping stopped. 

Yuuri swore his heart stopped dead in his chest.

He’d just… had Victor just...

A dull thud echoed around the bathroom - like a body slumping back against the thin walls - and Yuuri jumped like he’d been shot. It snapped him back to his senses, panic flaring through his veins and waking him up to exactly  _ where  _ he was. To exactly  _ what  _ he was doing. And that as he heard Victor let out a long sigh and the unmistakable sound of a zipper being done up  _ Victor would be out any second. _

He turned and fled before the lock could unclick behind him, eyes still blown wide and legs moving on instinct. The door thudded loudly shut behind him. Yuuri winced - but he didn’t stop moving, not until he was back at his desk, staring at the blank computer screen and breathing a little heavier than he should have been.

Phichit sat back down beside him, Yuuri feeling his best friend’s curious eyes lingering on him. “You okay, Yuuri?” he asked. “Work things out?”

_ Oh, Yuuri had worked it out alright. _

He didn’t have the words to answer aloud though, mouth hanging open soundlessly, uselessly. 

A flash of movement across the office caught his eye over his computer screen and his gaze shifted on instinct, darting up, looking - right as Victor strolled back into the office a little more cautiously than he would have normally, faint pink blush high on his cheekbones.

_ Yuuri knew what that blush was from. _

The director’s gaze fanned casually across the office, tiny frown playing on his brow. His eyes caught Yuuri’s for a split second, both of their gazes blinking wide with shock and-

Yuuri’s head thudded against his desk.

He hadn’t realised what he’d done until he found himself lacing his fingers through his hair at the back of his head, listening to the sound of his own racing heartbeat, and wishing that the ground would open up and swallow him whole. His cheek stayed mushed against his desk where he’d ducked down, eyelashes fluttering against the spacebar of his keyboard. Oh God - how was he ever going to look at Victor ever again after that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *scuttles back into cave*


	50. Family Emergency

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Aelin_Hartfilia315

Yuuri was not expecting a call at 1:37am on a Sunday from Victor, but that was the time on his phone display when his ringtone rattled him awake in the middle of the night, eyes squinting at it through the darkness from his blankets. A part of him was tempted not to answer it. It was definitely outside working hours. He was under no obligation to answer the phone. He could pretend he was still asleep and just ignore it. Victor had barely even spoken to him for weeks…

But he couldn’t.

He just couldn’t.

He groaned loudly in frustration, throwing and arm over his eyes before he hit the answer button. “Hello?” 

Sometimes he hated how nice he was…

“ _ Yuuri _ ?” 

Victor’s voice squeaked down the lines, higher pitched than normal and… just off. Like he was upset. Something was definitely up.

Yuuri pushed himself up on his elbows, the movement slowly helping him to wake up. “What’s wrong?” he asked in a way that came out more of a mumble than he’d intended. “Did something happen with the midnight update?”

He knew the system did a sweep in the middle of the night for any data that got stuck and that Victor sometimes stayed up late to run his reports as soon as it was done… but he’d never called Yuuri before. 

_ “No, it’s nothing like that. Um…” _ Victor’s voice trembled, and Yuuri could just imagine the director raking his hand through his hair, could imagine panic riddled eyes – that was what  _ he  _ looked like when his voice trembled like that at least. He couldn’t quite imagine it on Victor though… “ _ Yuuri, you used to have a poodle right?” _

Yuuri sat up a little straighter in bed, rubbing a fist over his eyes. “Um, yeah. Back in Japan. Why?”

_ “Did he ever used to … I don’t know, sulk?” _

Yuuri stopped rubbing – sulk?

“Um, no,” he said, frowning to himself. “Not really. Why?”

_ “Makka’s not coming to bed. She’s just sitting in the corner behind the couch and I can’t get her to come out. She was whining earlier which isn’t like her at all and she wouldn’t eat her supper. Did your dog ever do that?” _

Yuuri’s chest balked whenever he thought about his little poodle, a fresh wave of guilt passing over him every time he did. He should have been there when Vicchan passed. He never should have left him. Yuuri pressed him eyes shut, fighting to keep his breaths even as the hurt came flooding back.

“Um, n-no, I’ve never…” he couldn’t think. He didn’t know what to do. For as bad an owner as Yuuri had been, Vicchan had never been upset with him... “H-have you called the vet?”

_ “It’s out of hours,” _ Victor all but whined, voice a little more frantic. _ “They don’t open again until 10am and I can’t get through to their emergency line. Yuuri, what do I do?” _

Yuuri didn’t know.

Vicchan had never acted like that and Yuuri had never had much experience with sick dogs before. It definitely didn’t sound right though. Not eating was never a good sign.

“Um, I don’t know,” he said hopelessly, running his hands through his hair. “Has she got water?”

That was always a good place to start, right?

_ “Yeah, but she’s barely touching it.” _

That was not a good sign. 

It was like Victor could read his mind through the phone, Yuuri hearing the slap of skin as Victor’s hand clapped over his mouth in horror.  _ “Oh God, what if she’s ill? What if she’s dying?” _

“Hold on, I’m sure she’s not-”

Yuuri didn’t bother to finish, pressing his eyes shut. He could hear the panic in his director’s voice, clipping up a notch in pitch with every word he’d said. He wasn’t going to listen to whatever Yuuri had to say - unless Yuuri managed to get a veterinary degree in the next hour. Not that Yuuri knew what to say. Victor was panicking, had called Yuuri, and Yuuri didn’t know what to do except-

“Do you-” his breath hitched before he could even ask, words catching in his throat traitorously. He didn’t know what else to do though… “Do you want me to come over and help?”

Yuuri thought he heard a sniffle down the line. 

“ _ Please _ .”

The air rushed out of Yuuri’s lungs in relief. A part of him had been waiting for a gasp of outrage and a ‘ _ make sure your desk is clear by 9am Monday’ _ .

He didn’t know what else to do though - moral support was all he could offer. 

“Okay,” he breathed, already pulling the covers back and swinging his legs out of bed. “Text me your address. I’ll be there soon.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There will be a part 2 to this.
> 
> This will be out on Thursday night/Friday instead of Monday as I am going away on vacation on Friday for a week and won’t be back until Friday 14th.
> 
> On a side note - OMG HOW HAS THIS FIC REACHED 50 CHAPTERS?!! :D


	51. Family Emergency, Part 2

Yuuri was aware he looked a mess. His hair stuck up in all the wrong places, his glasses were wonky, he was wearing yesterday’s shirt and sweatpants in an effort to get dressed as soon as possible, and he was pretty sure that he’d have a parking ticket on his car by morning from not being able to read the parking regulation in the dark - but he was there, at Victor’s apartment, buzzing the doorbell at 2am.  

He never would have thought this would ever happen. 

Sure he’d had a crush on the director for what felt like forever - maybe a little more than a crush, if he was being honest with himself - but he’d never imagined he’d ever be doing this, coming to Victor’s apartment, supporting him…. like a friend.

The thought was both encouraging and depressing at the same time, Yuuri trying not to think about it too much as the apartment door swung open.

Victor didn’t look much better than he did. 

Red ringed his usually bright eyes, his hair ruffled and unkempt, and his pale face was even  _ paler  _ than normal. It wasn’t a good sign.

“Yuuri...” the director sighed, blinking fast and battling the unmistakable glitter in his eyes. A smile flickered across his lips - but there was nothing truly happy in it, the rest of Victor’s expression exhausted and stoic. “You came…”

Yuuri’s lips twitched in the corners too, mirroring Victor’s. “Of course, I did.”  _ I’d do anything for you _ , he added silently in his head.

 

* * *

Yuuri had to admit that Makkachin didn’t look good as he watched on from the kitchen, stirring the spoon through the mug of tea slowly and thoughtfully. The usually energetic poodle was lying on her side in the corner of the room, her body heaving with laboured breaths, and not even moving when Victor stroked her. Every now and then, she’d let out a quiet whine - but that was almost worse than the silence! It wasn’t like her.

Victor wouldn’t leave her side. He just stayed sat by his beloved poodle, fingers running carefully through her fur, and cooing quietly under his breath.

“Shh, girl,” Yuuri overheard the director murmur as he came back from the kitchen, voice soft and delicate. “It’s okay. We’re here. Everything’s fine.”

In reality, everything was not fine.

Neither of them had any idea what was going on. Makka wouldn’t eat, she’d stopped lapping at the water dish next to her. She just … lay there.

And Yuuri was just as worried about Victor too. The director was absolutely refusing to leave Makka’s side, his eyes never leaving her, watching over his beloved pet religiously. He hadn’t eaten anything either, and Yuuri didn’t want to think about how tired the director must feel. It was strange seeing the softer side to Victor. The man who was ruthlessly efficient in the office was the same man who was battling tears in his apartment now, fragile and vulnerable like Yuuri had never imagined...

“Here, Victor,” Yuuri said softly as he pulled out a coaster from under the coffee table and set the mug down behind them. It was something he always did at work - when out of your depth, make tea. “You should keep your strength up.”

Victor’s lips pressed together, eyes still on Makka. “Thanks, Yuuri.”

Yuuri hadn’t expected much more than that.

He turned his eyes to the dog too, feeling his heart pull. He really didn’t know what was wrong. Outwardly, she seemed healthy; her coat was still shiny, her nose was moist, her tongue was pink… her belly was a little distended though. Maybe she’d eaten something bad. Or maybe she’d just put on a little weight. Yuuri didn’t know. He wouldn’t know what else to do to help in that moment even if he did know. 

He crouched down beside Victor, settling a hand carefully on Makkachin’s hip. All he could do was help comfort her, help her know she wasn’t alone…

Then something touched Yuuri’s hand and he froze. “Um, Victor….”

“Hm?”

“Have you got any training pads?”

“No,” Victor said, not looking up from Makka. “I really should, but we’ve never had a problem. She wouldn’t come outside earlier to do her business so I’m not surprised. I’ll clear it up in a minute.”

Yuuri just eyed the red spotting on his fingers. “Um, I don’t think that’s the problem…”

“What?”

Victor’s eyes snapped to Yuuri.

The minute they found his hand they blew wide, air sucking sharply through his lungs and and his mouth fell open, jaw bobbing weakly but no words coming out.

Yuuri didn’t know what to say, his hand soaked with more than blood in a way that had his heart racing in his chest with panic.

Makka was still panting on the floor, body heaving with the breaths. She wasn’t whining though, wasn’t crying like she’d noticed any more discomfort from whatever was causing the blood - Yuuri wasn’t sure if that was a good or bad sign. He wasn’t sure of anything.

He didn’t know what to think when Makkachin suddenly pushed up and twisted round - the most she had moved in  _ hours! -  _ leg jerking forward and knocking Yuuri’s wet, blood spotted hand out of the way. Her nose disappeared behind her thigh, Victor and Yuuri just staring helplessly in confusion at the strange behaviour until-

“Oh my God.”

Yuuri breathed it first.

His eyes shot wide as what could only be described as a tiny blue bundle looked like it was wrapped in cling film slipped into view from under Makka’s leg. She was licking at it in a heartbeat, clingfilm-like covering breaking and peeling away … and then a tiny black snout was poking through instead.

Yuuri caught Victor’s already pale face go white out of the corner of his eye, the director’s mouth hanging open.

“Oh my God...” 

The tiny nose nuzzled the air, the little bundle weak and pushed around by the lap of Makkachin’s tongue like it weighed nothing as she cleaned it up. It’s legs stretched, its mouth opened for a squeak that damned near cracked Yuuri’s heart in two. Yuuri couldn’t believe what he was seeing. 

Makkachin wasn’t sick - she was  _ pregnant! _

“H-how did this happen?” he wondered aloud, shocked. 

Victor hadn’t said anything about Makkachin being pregnant. If the director’s sheet white face was anything go to by, he hadn’t known either. Suddenly, everything made perfect sense....

Victor blinked dumbly down at the scene unfolding before him, mouth hanging open. “I need to fire my dog sitter.”

“You have puppies.”

“I have puppies…”

Neither of them could do anything but sit there… and stare. Slack jawed and shocked. Makkachin was too busy tending to her puppy to care about them, licking it clean to reveal it’s jet black fur and tiny pink paws padding weakly at the hardwood beneath it. It was tiny. It was gorgeous.

Yuuri vaguely heard a strangled sound choke out of Victor beside him. He didn’t know what to say, what to do. Of all the things he’d thought might be wrong with Makka, it had never crossed his mind that she might be  _ pregnant. _

“Shit!” he suddenly jolted as the wetness - from her broken waters, Yuuri now guessed - touched his knee, seeping through the material of his sweat pants and wrenching him back to his senses. “I’ll get towels!”

 

* * *

 

Five puppies.

Makkachin had five puppies.

The last one was born at 6:03am, the sunrise barely creeping over the horizon through Victor’s blinds and basking the apartment in a soft yellow glow. Makkachin was still slumped lazily on the floor, her breathing back to normal and three of the puppies snuggled up against her warm belly. They’d all fed. Victor and Yuuri had read that that was important in their frantic Google search after the first puppy had been born.

“Thank you, Yuuri,” Victor breathed as his fingers rubbed gentle circles into the brown puppy he held in his arms, wrapped in a soft, fluffy tea towel. He smiled down at it adoringly. “I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

Yuuri just smiled, fingers soft over the cream curls of the poodle puppy he cradled in his own arms. They were so tiny...

“You’ll have to take one.”

Yuuri’s eyes blinked round, jolting up to Victor’s. The director was looking at him now, eyes glittering and a smug smirk pressed into his lips. 

“Oh, n-no,” he stammered, tongue feeling too heavy in his mouth. He watched Victor’s face fall like he’d been slapped, smile slipping and eyes blinking wide, and hurt, and - “I-I really appreciate it, Victor,” Yuuri tried again, clearing his throat. “But my flat doesn’t let me keep pets. My landlord would kill me.”

Victor pouted, gaze falling in disappointment. “Oh…”

Yuuri hated himself.

His arms twitched around the puppy, itching to wrap tight around himself and hold in the shuddering breath passing through his lips, feeling his heartbeat harder in his chest enough to pulse through his fingertips. He wished he could take a puppy. They were too cute. Perfect and adorable - and they were from Victor!

But his landlord would pretty much kick them out if he ever found out Yuuri was keeping a puppy in their flat...

“You’ll just have to come over more to see him then.”

Yuuri looked up so fast his neck clicked.

Victor smiled softly at him, looking absolutely breathtaking with the glow in his eyes - even with the tired bags underneath them, the too pale tint to his skin, the slight strain in the corners of his mouth where he was clearly exhausted. Still, he smiled. 

Yuuri was glad he’d come.

Especially when Victor shuffled closer and nudged his shoulder gently with his own, sitting close. 

“Thank you,” the director sighed, leaning over to drop the side of his head down on Yuuri’s shoulder. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

The tips of his silver hair brushed down, tickling Yuuri’s skin as they dipped under the hem of his t-shirt. Yuuri glowed at the contact, heart swelling in his chest at the weight of Victor’s head on his shoulder. He could have died happy right then - surrounded by puppies and Victor, the warmth of the Russian’s cheek seeping through the thin material of Yuuri’s shirt. He was happy.


	52. Office Distractions

Yuuri didn’t like the building works going on outside his window. His normally nice view was marred with scaffolding and wooden ledges, power tools drilled painfully loud, and he always had the feeling that someone was watching him. It was uncomfortable. He didn’t like it. The four weeks of work couldn’t end fast enough…

Until one day – just two days before the scaffolding was due to come down again – things got better.

Yuuri had to do a double take when he caught the glimpse of golden skin out of the corner of his eye, snapping his head just in time to see the young builder hand the hammer up to his colleague on the ledge above, his shirt off and defined six pack glistening in the sun.

Yuuri felt his mouth start to water, staring shamelessly out the window and the Adonis outside.

The rest of the guy was cute too. Dark swept back hair and a slim jaw with high cheekbones, eyes soft and smile easy as he got back to work on his own ledge. It just so happened to be on perfect level with Yuuri’s window, watching him out of the corner of his eye.

For once, Yuuri loved the heatwave.

The sunlight bounced gloriously off the man’s golden skin, a refreshing change to the pot-bellied middle aged men that normally been stationed to work outside Yuuri’s window for the last three weeks. This guy was the sort of Channing Tatum builder Yuuri had been waiting for, sweat running down his cobblestone abs and broad chest like it was fresh out of a dream. The high vis jacket was loose around his shoulders, highlighting his chiselled torso perfectly.

There was just one problem.

“Why do bad things always happen to good people, Phichit?” Yuuri groaned quietly, watching the clouds approach with an oncoming sense of dread.

The builder saw it too.

Phichit pushed over from his own desk, chair sliding effortlessly across the carpet to bump gently against Yuuri’s. “What?”

His eyes went to the window.

Yuuri pouted.

“I finally find a hot builder,” he all but whined. “And now the heatwave is over so he’ll be putting his shirt back on.”

It was like the guy heard him – not a minute later, he leaned over out of sight and when he straightened up again, he was pulling a baggy grey t shirt over his head, hiding his sculpted body from Phichit and Yuuri’s disappointed eyes.

“Damn,” Phichit sighed, eyes following the builder as he ascended to the next ledge above, climbing the ladder slowly. “That is bad luck.”

Yuuri’s shoulders slumped. _Typical…_

Just when he was about to give up on his hot builder though – as clothed as he was – the man stopped, paused on the ladder with his torso poking through the hole to the next ledge and his legs still in view outside the top half of Yuuri’s window. And his ass. And the gap between his toned thighs and his very loose, baggy shorts that trailed up, up, and-

“Okay,” Yuuri breathed, tongue darting out to wet his lips and enjoying the view for a moment longer. “So it’s not _all_ bad after all…”


	53. Playing House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Because everyone was asking about the puppies... here are the puppies

“How are you going to look after five fur babies?” Yuuri asked one evening in Victor’s apartment, glancing up at the director from the couch. “You’re barely home to even see Makkachin anymore.”

It wasn’t strictly true anymore, he guessed.

Victor’s time in the office had dramatically declined since the puppies had been born. Every morning he worked from home and only came into the office for a few hours in the afternoon while his neighbour watched the dogs. He brought Yuuri back round to his place after work to see them – because the flurry of cute pictures Victor sent him through the morning was never enough. They were just too cute to resist.

Victor just shrugged, hands braced on the island in the kitchen as the kettle boiled. “I’ll find a way. I’m probably long overdue a work-life balance reality check anyway.”

Yuuri didn’t argue there.

“And besides,” Victor went on, gently scooping up the black puppy that had been keeping him company on the kitchen counter and turning him round to face Yuuri. The puppy yawned. Yuuri felt his heart crack with adoration. “How can you say no to that little face?” Victor cooed. “I couldn’t possibly get rid of any of them.”

Yuuri chuckled.

“You gave this one away,” he pointed out, nudging the cream puppy in his arms with a sparkle in his eye.

Yuuri’s puppy had been falling behind the rest a little. He was just a little too small, a little too fragile compared to the others. Even when Yuuri tried to place him at Makkachin’s belly to get him a front row seat to the milk, he was quickly pushed out by his brothers and sisters, whining for help and food pitifully outside the rest of the ring of pups.

Eventually, Victor and Yuuri decided to step in a little.

And that was how Yuuri had come to be round Victor’s every evening, topping up his puppy with a bottle feed.

Victor loved it. Seeing Yuuri cradle the puppy in his arms, holding a baby’s milk bottle to its muzzle while it fed happily, and Yuuri beamed down at it with all the joy of the sun… it made something in Victor’s chest tight with something warm he couldn’t put a name to.

Victor’s gasped dramatically in mock horror at the accusation though, hand flying to his heart.

“To _you_!” he said, smile slipping back into place. He couldn’t help himself around Yuuri. “I know you, and he’s still living here until you can find a pet friendly flat.”

Whatever landlord didn’t allow puppies had to be the most cold-hearted person on the planet in Victor’s opinion, but whatever...

The kettle whistled quietly behind him, Victor wandering back into the sitting room with his pup while he waited. He smiled fondly at the box of Yuuri’s favourite brand of tea on the kitchen counter as he passed. He liked it – it looked like it belonged there.

“What are you going to call him?” he asked, dopey smile still on his lips as he sat down carefully beside Yuuri on the couch.

Yuuri’s puppy was feeding well, he noticed. Its tiny paws were pressed up against Yuuri’s chest as he fed, little legs stretching, and taking big, greedy gulps. He looked a lot stronger than he had a week ago, nearly just as plump as the rest of them. Victor couldn’t help but feel a little proud. But he couldn’t call it ‘ _Yuuri’s puppy’_ forever…

Yuuri went quiet for a moment, eyes rolling up in thought.

“ _Vitya_.”

Victor choked on air.

The smile slapped off his face as he met Yuuri’s round, glittering eyes, feeling his cheeks blush hot. He couldn’t help it. He _really_ couldn’t help it.

His mouth hung open a second longer than was normal, silent and gormless, until -

“Yuu-chan,” he finally rasped, clearing his throat.

It felt harder than it should have to glance down at the black puppy in his arms in indication, tearing himself away from the molten cinnamon coffee hue of Yuuri’s eyes for barely a single wrenching heartbeat. His ribcage was tighter than he remembered it to be. 

Yuu-chan wiggled in his arms, finding the end of Victor's sleeve at his wrist and snagging it playfully.

Victor barely noticed.

He was too enraptured by the adorable red flare dancing over Yuuri's cheeks instead.

"I think he likes it," Yuuri breathed, blush darkening.

Victor's mouth ran dry.

_I like_ you _,_ he thought to himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, anybody going to MCM London Comicon in October?


	54. Office Dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I've been away for what feels like forever. My bad about that. 
> 
> Anyway, pretty sure you will forgive me after this...  
> (from Wateryli's propmt)

“Yuuri, you don’t have to stay here,” Victor said after the third hour of just sitting in the office, waiting, ticked on by painstakingly slow. His fingers rubbed over his eyes, hating his life in that moment. “Just go home. I’ll call you when the warehouse is done dispatching.”

They were supposed to have been done at 6pm. They were always done at six, reliable for the last two years Victor had worked running the department.

Except today.

Today, the warehouse had decided they had to work late as as last minute decision… and couldn’t tell Victor what time they would be finished. So instead of running the final invoices when the warehouse were done dispatching the orders, Victor and Yuuri just had to wait… and wait… and wait...

“No, it’s okay,” Yuuri said with a strained smile on his face over his shoulder. He looked tired. “I’d rather finish off here than back at home.”

Victor just grunted quietly in response.

They had to run the invoices for monthend in one way or another. It couldn’t just wait until morning. They had to close it off today, lock the accounts for the last month in that night, ready to report their figures to the wider company first thing in the morning. Victor didn’t care if Yuuri did it at home or in the office anymore by that point, but he understood the clerk’s reservations. He had one of the old model laptops - and they were _slow_ when taken off their office monitor. It made even the simplest of tasks twice as long, and a hundred times more maddening.

Victor twisted his wrist over, glancing down at his watch. _8:47pm… God,_ he was starving, lunch so far gone he barely remembered what he’d had.

“Do you like Chinese?”

Yuuri’s head jerked up from his desk, eyes wide like Bambi. “What?”

Victor smirked, hoping the look in his eyes wasn’t _too_ fond at Yuuri’s adorable expression. “Do you like Chinese?” he repeated. “If we’re going to be here for a while, I’m going to need something to eat. Don’t you?”

“Um…”

Victor felt his heart swell with adoration as he watched the blush crawl over Yuuri’s cheeks, lips hanging just a fraction apart as he blinked like a deer in headlights.

Victor was so tired, he wasn’t even going to be offended if Yuuri said no. He just needed something to keep himself alive, feeling tired, and hungry, and short on patience, and a bunch of empty carbs and sauces with a frightening amount of sugar in them sounded like a great way to make himself feel better

He watched the reservation in Yuuri’s eyes, convinced the clerk would say no. He didn’t mind, he told himself, trying to ignore the rising tide of disappointment.

He didn’t mind…

“Okay.”

His heart leapt.

 

* * *

 

Yuuri couldn’t quite believe what was happening.

He’d just been filling the waiting time with studying happily by himself at his desk, keeping quiet while listening to the click of Victor’s keyboard behind him as he’d typed behind him… and now he was sat with Victor Nikiforov sharing a large pot of takeaway noodles that neither of them should really be eating. In that moment, Yuuri struggled to care. He was too busy trying not to die of heart failure.

It was official - Victor was perfect. Even eating, he looked unfairly graceful; his eyes fluttered shut as he shovelled noodles into his mouth in a way that would look obscene on anyone but him, eyelashes fanning out over his cheeks, tongue darting out to catch the sauce staining his lips, tracing a pattern around his mouth that Yuuri just couldn’t tear his eyes from…

“Yuuri?”

Yuuri hummed instinctively at the sound of his name, still hypnotised by the way Victor’s pretty pink lips closed around the chopsticks with every bite...

“Are you not eating?”

Yuuri blinked.

Suddenly, he remembered where he was, who he was with, what he was supposed to be doing … his fantasy ripped away from him, jolting him harshly back to reality. His gaze jerked up from Victor’s mouth to his bright blue eyes, watching him with a look clashed between curiosity and concern.

 _Oh God_ . Yuuri’s heart stopped dead in his chest, eyes popping wide. He’d been staring. He’d been staring _very_ obviously…

“It’s delicious,” Victor said as if he hadn’t noticed. His chopsticks rooted around in the pot. “Here, try some.”

And-

_Oh God, Victor was holding out his chopsticks a millimeter away from Yuuri’s mouth._

Yuuri didn’t think he get any more embarrassed, feeling his cheeks flush with heat and his eyes cross at the chopsticks just a hairbreadth away from his mouth. The same chopsticks that had touched Victor’s mouth! Yuuri didn’t dare move - he didn’t even dare breathe! How could he, when Victor was-

His mouth dropped open of its own accord, lips parting slowly, hesitantly. He fluttered his eyes shut as Victor eased the noodles past his lips.

He couldn’t bear holding the director’s eye.

Victor’s gaze still lingered in his mind though even when it was out of sight, bright blue crystal burning with a fierce intensity that was still somehow round with innocent wonder, like he was drawn to Yuuri, like he was fascinated. Of course, Yuuri was seeing what he wanted to see. He didn’t even bother trying to question it as he closed his lips around the food, soy sauce and spice tingling on his tongue. He knew Victor wasn’t really looking at him like that…

His eyes flickered open, feeling the chopsticks pull slowly out of his mouth. His fantasy lingered, those bright blue eyes smouldering again… only they were closer than they had been a moment ago.

Yuuri’s breath hitched.

He swallowed the noodles instinctively - barely chewing. It hardly mattered though. Yuuri blinked. And blinked, and blinked, and blinked…

… but the fantasy didn’t melt away.

Victor’s fierce eyes didn’t soften.

And they didn’t move away.

Yuuri couldn’t look away even if he’d wanted to, heart pounding hard in his chest and body freezing. Was … was this real? No… no, it couldn’t be. Victor couldn’t be looking at _him_ like _that…_

The director’s gaze flickered down - down to Yuuri’s mouth. “You’ve got a…”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

Instead he reached up - slow, like he was reaching up to stroke one of the new puppies, giving Yuuri time to move away - but Yuuri didn’t move a muscle. A thumb smudged at the corner of his mouth, soft yet firm, dragging over the edge of his slightly chapped lips. If it was possible, Yuuri thought he felt Victor move closer.

And then he watched something in the director’s gaze crack.

It was like a glow stick snapping - the moment Victor made his decision behind his eyes, a fierce electric blue swamped his gaze, bright, and brilliant, and reckless, and-

Victor leaned forward and kissed him.

Yuuri forgot how to breathe.

The kiss started out slow. Victor’s hand moved from his cheek round to the nape of his neck, holding Yuuri close - but not forcing him, touch firm but gentle. Just like his lips. The director’s mouth was all but mashed against his, but it wasn’t a hard kiss. Just desperate, Yuuri feeling all the weeks and months of longing poured out into that one embrace.

He knew.

Because he felt it too.

His eyes shot wide in surprise, gasping the air right out of Victor’s mouth. It tasted of soy sauce - a surprising detail that he didn’t think he would normally notice in his dreams.

Because it had to be a dream.

It was always a dream.

Real life was longing looks, and blushing cheeks, and nervous laughter… kissing was reserved for dreams. There was no way it could be real.

Yuuri reached across his lap to his forearm, deciding it wasn’t fair to keep teasing himself. He pinched, hard… but he didn’t wake up.

It wasn’t a dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You're welcome ^^
> 
> Also, I am officially going to Comic-Con in London on the ... *searches Google for dates* Saturday 27th October! I can't see any meets organised on FB this year for YOI, but pleeeeeeeeeeeease hmu if there is one I am missing or if a bunch of everyone want to get together. That would be cool.


	55. Not a Dream

Yuuri’s brain stopped. His heart beat hard against his chest and his fingertips pricked with pins and needles, getting number by the second.

“Is this real?” he breathed, hardly daring to believe it was true.

Victor was _kissing_ him.

Hands in his hair, knees brushing together, his question sighed over Victor’s lips still brushing against his own in short strokes, needy but uncertain. Yuuri didn’t know what was happening, or why… all he knew what that he didn’t want it to stop.

Victor’s thumb stroked the side of his neck, touch soft and tender. A smile flickered over his lips, one that Yuuri could feel pressed into the corner of his mouth.

“It’s real.”

The words sighed warm over Yuuri’s mouth, spreading heat through his chest, heart aching all over again…

...but he didn’t understand.

Why now? What had happened? Victor had never said anything before about liking him - let alone _kissing him_ now! He hadn’t said anything… unless there wasn’t anything to say. Unless it didn’t mean anything. It was late, they were tired, they were bored ...for someone like Victor, kissing someone must be the easiest pastime in the world…

Yuuri felt sick. “I-I don’t-”

“You really want to talk about this now?”

Victor’s forehead leaned forward and touched Yuuri’s, breath sighing over Yuuri. It tasted like soy sauce.

The air hitched in Yuuri’s lungs.

And for better or worse, he knew what he wanted.

“No.”

He surged forward the second the word left his lips, mouth on Victor’s, getting fistfuls of the director’s fine shirt and pulling him closer. Victor moaned into his mouth, leaning into the contact.

Yuuri wasn’t sure what he’d expected of kissing Victor. He’d thought about it, but never thought about how it might _feel._

And it felt fantastic.

Every cell in his body surged to life, sparking with adrenalin and desperate for contact, desperate for more. He didn’t understand the confidence that possessed him as his hands greedily ran up over Victor’s chest, to his shoulders, fingers sneaking under his jacket-

Victor shucked it off in an instant, leaning forward the moment his arms were free. They wrapped tight around Yuuri’s waist, hauling him closer.

Yuuri gasped into Victor’s mouth as their bodies smacked together, hard enough that his ribs would hurt in the morning. He didn’t care. He didn’t care about anything. His arms looped around Victor’s shoulders, surrendering to the kiss and letting his body lean into it. He felt Victor’s fingers dig into the flesh of his hips, holding them flush against each other.

They soon crept around to the backs of his thighs, lifting effortlessly.   _All that time in the gym paid off_ , Yuuri couldn’t help but think with a gasp as his legs wrapped around Victor’s waist.

He didn’t see the noodle pot hit the floor, but he could guess that was where it ended up - along with Victor’s pens, calculator, papers - everything was swept aside, clattering loudly as Yuuri took their place on Victor’s desk instead. Yuuri’s arm shot back behind him, steadying himself.

It allowed him just enough control to push back when Victor leaned him over the desk, pressing out what little space that had been allowed to creep between them into nothing.

“We-we can’t-” Yuuri rasped out, clinging to his senses. “Not here, not-”

Victor’s phone rang.

The sound shocked Yuuri into silence, body going tense, and sucking in a gasp that was more Victor than oxygen and more than a little intoxicating. It was shrill and sharp - like an electric shock jolting through him.

His mouth brushed off Victor’s, leaning back just enough to see the frown dig into the director’s brow.

Victor swore under his breath.

“Yakov…” Victor sighed as he stared over at the phone across the desk with a nerve twitching in the corner of his mouth, shaking his head. His hand stayed firmly on Yuuri’s thigh though. “Always ruining the moment…”

_Yakov._

Victor’s boss.

Slowly, it sank in.

The reality of what had just happened weighed down heavy on Yuuri until he felt his heart dragging at the bottom of his ribcage, his knees threatening to buckle beneath him as Victor took a step back and he slipped back off the desk. Victor had his phone in hand - not answering yet - just staring at the screen with fingers running through his hair.

Yuuri opened his mouth, feeling numb. It was an extra second before any words actually came out.

And when they did, they weren’t what he was expecting.

“I-I should go.”

Victor’s head jerked up, hand freezing at the back of his head. His frown came back. “What?”

Yuuri took a deep breath, steeling himself.

“I have to go,” he said again - firmer this time, surer. His voice didn’t tremble, didn’t break. He just about held it together.

Because he had to.

Victor opened his mouth-

The phone rang again.

Yuuri was already walking - running! He stumbled back to his desk, barely finding his car keys through his blurred vision, blinking through the tears. Every breath rasps in his lungs, like needles down his throat.

“Yuuri, wait-”

The office phone cut him off.

“Dammit…”

Yuuri didn’t wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry! I'm still replying to comments and I'm a week late with updating. I would say it won't happen again, but we all know what I'm like by now...


	56. Elevator

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Dedica - it's not exactly a store cupboard but... cramped space enough for you? ;)

Yuuri walked into work the next day in a daze. He barely remembered leaving the office the night before with a mumbled ‘goodnight’, lips still tingling from Victor’s embrace, and white noise ringing in his ears. It still hadn’t gone away. The moment he stepped back into the office, his eyes looked for Victor.

But he wasn’t there.

He didn’t know if that was good or not.

 

* * *

 

All in all, he was lucky that it was monthend. It kept him busy enough to not be able to linger on thinking about Victor for too long - and  _ boy, _ did he want to think about him! So much had happened lately. The puppies, the bathroom thing, the kiss… Yuuri felt his thoughts melt into mush as it all washed over him.

He’d kissed his boss.

Surely, no matter how Victor felt about it, kissing one’s boss was never a  _ good  _ idea…

He pushed it to the back of his mind though, forcing himself to get on with the last of his work. He was nearly done. He just kept his head down, closing his accounts, balancing his numbers … until Victor finally made an appearance at 3pm. 

The director glanced up just at the right moment as he finally strode into the office, his gaze connecting with Yuuri’s for a split second, and something sparking in those bottomless blue depths. Yuuri  _ saw  _ his sharp inhale. He wrenched his eyes back to his own computer again before he gave them both away, feeling colour darken over his cheeks. He didn’t want to think about it. He couldn’t  _ bear  _ to talk about it.

 

* * *

Victor kept his distance and Yuuri was grateful. He wasn’t ready to face reality yet, to face the consequences of his actions. For once, he didn’t want to talk to Victor at all.

So, when his monthend was finally wrapped up - just twenty minutes later than his usual finishing time - he bolted for the door. It was a good monthend after all, he couldn’t help but think as he slipped into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor.

… until he caught Victor running towards him through the slither of the closing elevator doors.

A pale hand slapped between them just in time.

“I’ve been wanting to talk to you all day,” the director huffed as he slipped inside and the doors slid shut quietly behind him, cheeks dusted delicately pink and eyes low. He shuffled awkwardly on his feet. “I’m … I’m sorry about what happened.”

What happened - _ the kiss, _ Yuuri quickly put together in his head, mouth running dry. His eyes stared wide at the elevator keypad in front of him.

He wasn’t brave enough to meet Victor’s eye.

Especially when his tongue darted out to wet his dry lips, heart pounding in his chest, and words bubbling on his lips that he already knew were a bad idea - “I’m not.”

Victor inhaled sharply beside him.

What did that mean?

“It doesn’t change the way I feel about you, Yuuri.”

Yuuri could hear his pulse pounding in his ears. “A-and how do you feel about me?”  _ This couldn’t be happening. _

Victor opened his mouth.

“If I’m honest,” he finally said after a silent beat. “I think I-”

The elevator shuddered.

Yuuri was thrown off balance - right into Victor. He slapped clumsily against the director’s chest while his boss’s arms caught around his waist, holding him tight. Victor fell back against the wall, Yuuri in his arms. Whatever he had been about to say was lost. Yuuri didn't care though - he couldn’t think of anything but the bright blue eyes staring wide back at his, their faces just inches apart.

The elevator stopped.

Victor’s breath sighed over Yuuri’s cheek, shuddering slightly. His arms didn’t loosen from around his waist. “Yuuri?”

“W-what was that?” 

Yuuri barely kept the panic out of his voice, hands shaking as he listened to the faint groan of machinery around them, the choke of stuck cogs and faint wobble of the floor beneath them. It was like an earthquake… but there weren’t earthquakes there. He knew exactly what happened the moment his eyes lifted to the screen above the elevator door.

The ‘ERROR’ message in big, bold red letters mocked him.

“We’re stuck,” Victor realised aloud, following Yuuri’s gaze.

Yuuri felt his heart drop into his stomach.

He pushed up off Victor, unable to meet the director’s eye as Victor pulled himself back to his feet, making a beeline for the keypad. He jabbed a few buttons. 

Nothing happened.

“Damn it…”

Victor pulled his phone out of his pocket, tapping on the screen. He frowned down at it for a silent moment. 

“No cell service either...” he murmured after a beat, slipping the iPhone back in his pocket. His thumb jabbed a button on the elevator keypad again, holding it down. A note buzzed round the elevator, flat and static, and-

_ “Hello?” _

The voice crackled through the keypad. Victor’s shoulders slumped with relief. He didn’t recognise the voice on the other end of the line though...

“Hello,” he said back into the keypad anyway, leaning down to get his ear closer. “Is Karen there?”

Karen was the receptionist. She could fix this.

_ “No, she finishes at 5.” _

_ Damn. _

Victor tried not to panic.  _ Okay,  _ he told himself, ignoring the way his heart rate picked up a beat.  _ Plan B. _ “Is the facilities manager there?”

_ “No, he finishes at 5.” _

Victor pressed his eyes shut, forehead dipping to rest against the cool metal of the elevator wall. “Is  _ anyone  _ there?”

_ “I’m at the front desk. I’m the security guard on duty tonight.” _

“Ah, great!”  _ Hope at last... _ “We’re trapped in the elevator and can’t get out. Would you be able to send someone to help us please?”

_ “They’ve all gone home.” _

Victor took a deep, calming breath. His patience was clinging on by a thread. “Could you please call them and get them back please.” It wasn’t a suggestion. 

For a moment, the line was silent. Then-

_ “Yes, sir.” _

Victor rolled his eyes, taking his finger off the speaker button. “I do question the people that work here sometimes… Yuuri?” 

He had barely glanced over his shoulder when his heart stopped; Yuuri was slumped on the floor of the elevator with his head in his hands, breathing hard. His hands clenched in his hair, knuckles white and back heaving with his fast, manic breaths. Victor felt the colour drain from his face - he knew what was happening. Yuuri had mentioned that he had anxiety… this must be it.

Victor was terrified as he dropped to his knees beside the clerk, hand reaching out to Yuuri’s shoulder on instinct but freezing half a centimeter before touching him. He didn’t know what to do. Everything inside him was screaming to wrap Yuuri up in his arms and hold on tight… but another part of him knew that Yuuri needed his space.

After a moment of hesitating though, his bhand settled down on Yuuri’s shoulder. It squeezed gently.

“Yuuri, it’s okay,” he said softly, forcing himself to smile reassuringly. Yuuri didn’t look up. He didn’t see. “We’re fine. The elevator isn’t moving, help is on the way. We’re going to be fine. It’s all okay. Breathe with me, okay?”

He sucked in a few loud, exaggerated breaths, whistling them through his lips and counting slowly in his head with each inhale and exhale. 

For a moment, he breathed alone.

Then after a few minutes, Yuuri - shakily - began to breathe with him. 

His breaths still hitched every now and then, speeding up when the panic rose up again but a few calm words from Victor and some soothing strokes of his thumb over Yuuri’s shoulder soon steadied them again. Bit by bit, Yuuri started to calm down. His head stayed bowed though, his eyes avoiding Victor’s.

Victor didn’t dare linger on it. All he cared about was looking after Yuuri for now - everything else could wait.

“We’re going to be okay,” he murmured as much to himself as to Yuuri.

“Are we?” Yuuri finally squeaked, voice higher than normal, bordering on frantic. He snapped his head up, eyes round and glittering. They made Victor’s heart ache. “I  _ kissed  _ you, Victor! And you-” His hand smothered over his mouth, pressing his eyes shut for a moment. “A-am I going to lose my job?”

Victor gasped like Yuuri had slapped him.

“What?” he hissed, horrified. He couldn’t believe Yuuri thought that was the kind of man he was. “No, Yuuri, I would never do that.”

Because he wouldn’t.

He really wouldn’t. He was just as much to blame for what had happened as Yuuri was and he would never abuse his position to force the fallout to rest solely and squarely on Yuuri’s shoulders if it ended badly. Which it sounded like it was. Yuuri didn’t exactly looked thrilled at the memory.

Victor’s head tipped to the side, eyes rolling up in thought. “Well, Yakov doesn’t want us to be together,” he eventually conceded. “It’s not  _ strictly  _ allowed.”

“So what does that mean?”

Victor paused.

Yuuri was staring at him, eyes a blend of terrified and… something else; something kind of like the way Makkachin looked at him, warm, and caring, and-

“It means no one can know,” Victor found himself breathing, heart in his mouth.

Yuuri sucked in a sharp breath. 

“S-so you-”

“Want to kiss you again?” Victor’s eyes dipped down to Yuuri’s mouth, tongue darting out to wet his lips. “Yes,” he rasped. “Very much. Do you want me to?”

Yuuri’s eyes widened, glowing. His mouth opened - but he hesitated.

“But Yakov-”

“Yakov can’t see us now.” 

Victor couldn’t believe what he was saying… he just sucked in a subtle breath, waiting anxiously. He could be about to risk his career for a kiss… or he could be making the best decision of his life, finally giving himself the chance to have something to live for beyond his job.

The silence stretched on.

Victor could see Yuuri’s mind race behind his eyes. He must be having the same thoughts, weighing up the risks. He’d be foolish not to really.

With what Victor was suggesting, they could both end up booted out the door jobless if they ever got caught…

Finally, Yuuri let out the breath he’d been holding, sighing over Victor’s lips. “Please-”

No sooner had the word left Yuuri’s mouth than Victor looped an arm around Yuuri’s waist and kissed him.


	57. Coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For WarriorNun and maddy_the_weeb

****“Yuuri, do you want to get a coff-”

Victor had barely started speaking, elbow leaned casually on the divider between Yuuri and Phichit’s desk, his clerk’s eyes gazing round and curious up at him with their colour shining gloriously… when of course, the stupid phone rang. Victor scowled at it, not even bothering to hide his irritation.

Yuuri just pressed his lips together apologetically. “Sorry,” he said, eyebrows knitting together in the middle adorably. “Just one minute…”

He picked up the phone.

 

* * *

 

It was not one minute.

Forty two later - yes, Victor had been keeping count - Yuuri had only just hung up the phone, looking just as annoyed as Victor felt.

He knew it was irrational. They were _technically_ in the office to work after all, but Victor couldn’t care less about work that day. With Yuuri’s kiss still fresh in his mind and the feeling of how readily Yuuri had pressed his body against Victor’s in the elevator still flipping his stomach in glorious ways, the _last_ thing Victor wanted to think about was work. All Victor could think about was more kisses, more touching, more talking, more-

“Okay, I’m ready!”

Victor blinked back to reality, wrenching himself out of his thoughts.

For once though, the reality was better than the fantasy - Yuuri was practically bouncing on the balls of his feet next to Victor’s desk, broad smile on his face, and cheeks flushed a delicate shade of pink.

It took a minute for his words to sink in… but when they did, Victor stood in a instant, heart skipping a beat in his chest.

“Great!” he gasped, smile breathing over his lips. “I’ll just get my-”

“Victor!”

Victor paused in his steps, head swivelling towards the sound of his name. _Georgi…_ Victor felt his mood sink instantly.

“Could you check this file with me?”

Victor’s smile dropped dead. “But-”

“The deadline is in less than an hour.”

Victor’s mouth hung open, slack jawed with horror. He wanted to say no. He _desperately_ wanted to say no… but as a responsible boss, he had no choice.

His eyes turned to Yuuri.

The clerk just smiled, the gesture not quite meeting his eyes. He shrugged. _Disappointed_ … yeah, Victor felt it too.

“Next time,” Yuuri promised quietly.

 

* * *

 

“Finally!” Victor sighed dramatically as he and Yuuri pooled in the kitchen, kettle boiling in the background. “I thought we’d never get away.”

It was incredibly domestic - the both of them at the kitchen counter, spooning the instant coffee granules into their mugs. The spoons clinked quietly against the side of the cups, Victor and Yuuri shooting each other shy little smiles as they worked on their drinks. It was … nice. Everything was so easy with Yuuri.

The coffee wasn’t important.

Victor just wanted a quiet moment with Yuuri, something for just him and Yuuri, something for them to connect after their steamy session in the elevator last night. He just wanted a moment, that was all. Something nice he could do for Yuuri - like make him coffee. He wanted to show that he was serious about Yuuri, that he wasn’t just looking for a bit of fun - he could be the guy that made out in the elevator _and_ could make coffee.

He was grinning ridiculously as he readied the cups, listening to the way the kettle got slightly louder, rattling as it did when the water started to hit the boiling point.

“Um, Victor…”

“Hm?” Victor glanced up distractedly at Yuuri’s voice, following the clerk’s gaze along the counter… and his heart sank bitterly.

It wasn’t steam coming from the kettle - it was smoke.

The thing was rocking violently on its base, scalding water spitting out of its spout, and sparks crackling at the plug in the wall. Smoke poured from the socket in delicate streams, darker and more deadly than the steam Victor had been expecting.

In his head, Victor swore.

“You’re kidding me…” he murmured in horrified disbelief, barely hearing the spoon as it slipped from his fingers and clattered into the mug loudly.

So much for the coffee.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Victor’s meeting was finished after the kitchen incident, he made a beeline for Yuuri’s desk… only Yuuri wasn’t there. Victor’s heart sank bitterly.

He turned to Phichit instead.

“Where’s Yuuri?” he asked, a bit blunter than he probably should have.

He didn’t care. He was fed up by now. He just wanted some stupid coffee with his new crush/boyfriend/ _friend_ \- Victor had no idea what they were - which was exactly why he needed coffee to talk over it! He had his car keys in his pocket, ready to just take Yuuri to the nearest cafe just outside of walking distance of the office so nobody they knew would see them, and they could talk, and -

Phichit just shrugged though.

“I’m not sure,” he said. “I think he went out. He didn’t say where…”

Victor’s head thudded as his forehead dropped to the desk divider. He groaned hard - he literally had no luck at all.

 

* * *

 

 

“So…” Chris’s chair clacked softly as it bumped into Victor’s, nudging the director just far away from his laptop enough to not be able to reach the keyboard anymore. “What happened to _you_ last night?”

Victor kept his eyes forward.

He could feel Chris’s shit eating grin bearing into the side of his face, hear the amusement in his voice, sense the mischievous sparkle his knowing gaze inevitably held...

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he muttered anyway, holding his ground.

Chris wasn’t deterred though.

“I’m talking about how our usual Project Runway live commentary was a little one sided last night...” An elbow nudged into the side of Victor’s arm, jolting him in his chair. “Was someone _otherwise occupied?”_

Victor cringed at the memory.

Well, Chris wasn’t exactly wrong...

It had been the best make out of Victor’s life. Every touch from Yuuri had sent shivers up his spine and every kiss seared into his memory so he could never forget, so desperate, so needy, so… perfect. They had kissed like they were making up for time. Victor certainly had been, pouring months and months of pining into that one embrace in the elevator, loathed to finally let his arms fall away from Yuuri and stand a good foot apart when the door finally opened two hours later.

They hadn’t dared tangle their fingers together as they crossed the dark, empty parking lot to their cars. They hadn’t kissed goodnight. They hadn’t even said goodbye.

Victor hadn’t stopped thinking about it all night.

What if he’d screwed up?

“And I notice our dear Yuuri isn’t here anymore,” Chris went on obliviously. “Did something happen to him too by any chance?”

Victor kept his mouth shut.

He wasn’t about to spill it all to Chris before he’d had a chance to talk to Yuuri. Really, he should have talked last night instead of getting so handsy with Yuuri in the elevator. It would have been the perfect time for such a private conversation, but of course Victor’s brain cells hadn’t worked the same when he’d found out that Yuuri wanted to kiss him and there had been absolutely nothing - for once! - to stop them.

He was regretting it now though - four coffee date attempts later and still empty handed with no idea what was going on between him and Yuuri.

It wasn’t great.

And Victor definitely wasn’t in the mood to talk to anybody about it - least of all Chris, who would give him zero sympathy! He just wanted Yuuri.

 

* * *

 

Half an hour later, the office door thudded open.

“Sorry I’m late!” Yuuri gasped as he stumbled in, rosy cheeked and arms full of a large cardboard cup holder laden with steaming takeaway cups.

Victor smelt the coffee in a heartbeat. He tried hard not to look, tried to keep his eyes on his computer, all cool and nonchalant. After all, he hadn’t wanted the coffee this way. He’d wanted it to be just between the two of them, all special and private. But if Yuuri had gotten coffee for everyone – and by the number of cups, he must have gotten coffee for _everyone_ – it wasn’t special. Victor was just one of the crowd. Was this Yuuri’s way of letting him down gently? He'd literally left the office to avoid him and brought back something that showed that Victor was just the same as everyone else to him?

The director couldn’t ignore the stab of hurt that jolted through him, chest aching. Of course, he couldn’t resist looking.

His eyes instantly found Yuuri’s across the office.

It made Victor’s heart skip a traitorous beat.

He itched to go over to him. To warm Yuuri’s chill bitten fingers in his, to analyse the exact pattern the pink blush painted over his cheeks, to see up close exactly the right shade of cinnamon his eyes sparkled… he wrenched his eyes back to his computer instead though, clinging to his self control.

He didn’t dare go over though. If he went to Yuuri now, something would go wrong. Something always went wrong. He didn’t want to be reminded too soon that he wasn’t anything special to Yuuri, just one of his co-workers...

“I got coffee.”

Victor jumped in his seat.

He hadn’t noticed Yuuri come over.

He forced a stiff smile, glancing awkwardly out of the corner of his eye. “Thank you.” He wasn’t sure he could look Yuuri square in the face while he was kindly being rejected...

The takeaway cup thunked softly as Yuuri set it down.

Yuuri remembered his order, Victor noted sadly, a twang bolting through his chest as he breathed in the smell of fresh coffee, knuckles white around his mouse he clung to it so hard. It was his lifeline, holding him back from just pulling Yuuri to his chest and never letting him go. So close ... so close to them being perfect together…

“Thanks, Yuuri!”

Victor winced at Chris’s voice, too loud, too close. He really wasn’t in the mood for his best friend right then...

“Wow,” Chris rattled on anyway. “You definitely got the better cup.”

“What?”

Victor glanced down before he could stop himself - his restraint was slipping. He just about resisted tilting his gaze to follow Yuuri back across the office though, forcing himself to look firmly down at the coffee cups to distract himself instead. It didn’t take him long to figure out what Chris was talking about - the top of Chris’s cup was plain, boring froth… whereas a soft, fluffy poodle made out of the bubbles stared up at Victor from his own cup. Victor’s breath caught. It looked like Makkachin.

Yuuri had done that for him...

Victor glanced up in a heartbeat, scanning frantically across the office. Victor caught Yuuri’s eye - and beamed the biggest heart shaped grin he could muster.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They will talk properly one day.... after monthend...
> 
> Hoping to get something out for Halloween special for you all ... if I can finish it...*hides in shame*... stay tuned!


	58. Halloween

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Aelin_Hartfilia315

Victor was juggling his laptop in one hand and fixing his coffee in the other when he first overheard about it, wrenching him out of his pre-meeting inner monologue.

“Have you seen Katsuki?” someone by the vending machine said.

“He’ll win the costume contest hands down.”

“I mean, I can’t really blame them. Have you _seen_ him? Even JJ-”

Victor didn’t have time to keep listening to more, the timer on his phone buzzing the start of the meeting in his pocket.

But he was more than intrigued.

Usually, Victor hated Halloween. Not for Halloween itself - but for Halloween at work. He hated it. The office in fake cobwebs and plastic spiders hanging from the ceiling never put him in a good mood when he had a million and one reports to organise for monthend, and the stupid costume contest that the American bosses insisted on was just down right irritating for him. Nobody was focused on work - just on the sweets, and the gimmicks, and gossip. It just made Victor’s job all the harder for those precious few days.

But when _Yuuri_ was involved… his perspective started to change.

 _What could Yuuri be dressed as?_ , he found his mind wandering just ten minutes into his boring meeting.

A smouldering vampire? A bunny in lingerie like something out of Mean Girls? A zombie bride? Oh God, Victor wasn’t sure he could handle seeing Yuuri in a wedding dress, no matter how bloodied and tattered. His heart wouldn’t be able to take it.

It was just fifteen minutes into his meeting when he cracked.

He popped open Skype messenger on his laptop.

_Victor: Chris, what is Yuuri wearing for the costume competition?_

The dots bubbled instantly along the bottom of the screen as Chris typed along the other end of the connection. _Clearly, someone wasn’t very busy today_ , Victor thought enviously, rolling his eyes.

A moment later, a new message popped up. He clicked it eagerly.

_Chris: Mere words aren’t enough, cheri._

_Chris: I can say that you won’t be disappointed…_

Victor slumped back in his chair, biting back a groan. He couldn’t believe it - of all people, Chris was holding out on him! How could he-

“Mr Nikiforov?”

Then Victor remembered where he was.

Four pairs of confused, senior staffed eyes stared at him from around the conference table, all watching, waiting...

Victor cleared his throat awkwardly.

“I mean, that forecast…” he covered quickly, pulling a face at the projector screen on the wall. He definitely didn’t have his mind still racing about Yuuri as a sexy witch, or in a spandex red devil costume- “Uhn…”

 

* * *

 

“I heard JJ walked into a wall when he saw him!”

“No way-”

 

* * *

 

Victor kept hearing things. Tantalising, teasing things that were not fair at all for a poor man like himself. Even when he went to see the clerk in person, he hadn’t been at his desk.

Just Phichit… flaunting the packet from the dollar store fishnet tights that Yuuri apparently needed for his costume…

It hadn’t helped Victor’s problem.

 

* * *

 

“Attention, please!” called over the tannoy. “The Halloween costume competition is about to begin in the showroom!”

Victor had never moved so fast to a meeting room in his life.

The place was swamped by the time he got there - full of werewolves, and Draculas, and ghosts, and sexy kitten outfits that _definitely_ were not work appropriate - but Victor only had eyes for Yuuri.

He shone out from the crowd like a star.

Victor’s jaw dropped.

The white Marilyn Monroe dress swirled gloriously around Yuuri’s thick thighs as he turned, twirling for some lucky devil admiring his costume with a grin a little too in character for Victor’s liking. The blonde wig made the colour in his cheeks pop. The tights hugged his generous, shapely legs. He danced on scarlet red high heels that were downright dangerous for Victor’s heart rate. And the smudge of smokey eyeliner framing his seductively hooded eyes when Yuuri finally caught Victor’s gaze over his shoulder was almost enough to finish the director off entirely.

Yuuri smiled - and Victor noticed the red lipstick staining the clerk’s luscious lips.

The director’s knees went weak.

“Well?” Yuuri grinned as he flounced over with a dangerous sway of his hips, giving a twirl. “What do you think?”

Victor gulped. “What do I _think?”_

His eyes raked up and down Yuuri’s body, following the twirl of the skirt around the clerk’s thighs. _Who knew Yuuri had a tattoo,_ he thought with his heart skipping a beat as the skirt rode up. _There_ of all places…

He cleared his throat softly, leaning in a fraction closer so only Yuuri could hear. “I think you should come by the apartment later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween! Stay safe, kids.


	59. Doggo Parenting is Hard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, it's not perfect, it's a little cheesy, but I couldn't help it.  
> For my-precious-katsudon. Your cat picture made my day <3

“Um, Victor,” Yuuri blinked from the doorway the moment Victor’s front door opened. “What happened?”

Victor had a puppy under each arm - one with a face full of cobwebs and the other covered in glitter - plus another hanging from his leg, teeth buried into the crease of Victor’s trousers and growling every time a knee shifted. The director looked done.

Victor rolled his eyes.

“I was packing away the Halloween decorations when I was ambushed,” he said, stepping back to let Yuuri in. “I looked away for barely a second and these two were right in the glitter and web - thank _God_ it’s all that natural seaweed stuff! - and then this one-” Victor lifted his leg, puppy dangling from his calf growling at the movement. “-decided to be their guard dog and pounced on me.”

Yuuri slapped a hand over his mouth, trying to muffle his giggle. Victor’s deadpan expression didn’t make it any less funny.

“I thought you didn’t like Halloween,” he said through his chuckles, prising a cobwebbed puppy out of Victor’s arms. Gently, he peeled the strands back from it’s little black nose, trying to keep them away from the pink tongue lapping at his fingertips.

“I don’t like Halloween _at the office,”_ Victor clarified, getting a better grip on his glittered Yuuchan. “But there’s quite a few kids in this complex and it’s good fun for them at least.”

Yuuri’s heart swelled in his chest, catching a pair of plastic fangs on the edge of the kitchen counter and a handful of candy wrappers that clearly hadn’t made it to the trick or treaters in all of Victor’s stress. He smiled softly - he could just imagine Victor making all that effort for some little kids, getting candy and dolling up the apartment just to make them smile. He was nice like that…

He followed Victor through the apartment - still cleaning his puppy - and scanning his eyes around the place. The ambushed Halloween box laid on its side next to the armchair, green sparkling glitter spilled out over the floor amongst a paper chain of bats that looked suspiciously wet and chewed on.

Makkachin was curled up on the sofa, one of the puppies - Johnny - snuggled up against her thick brown curls.

Yuuri did a quick headcount. “Where’s Ina?”

“She’s in the pumpkin.”

“She-” Yuuri blinked, frowning. Had he heard that right? “What?”

“The pumpkin,” Victor jerked his head to the little pumpkin candy holder sat by the end of the couch. “I can’t get her out of the damned thing. She loves it.”

Yuuri leaned over, peering inside - sure enough, amongst the tiny ruffled blanket lining the plastic pumpkin was a curled up ball of brown fur, a spitting miniature image of her mother. Her belly rose slowly and steady with her sleepy breaths, looking warm and content.

He shrugged. “Well, I guess if she’s comfortable…”

Victor sank into the armchair with a heavy sigh, running his fingers through his hair. Yuuri laughed at the green glittery streak they left behind.

“Y-you’ve got-”

Yuuri slapped hand over his mouth, barely containing his giggles. He couldn’t help it - especially when Victor blinked up at him in surprise, eyes wide and innocent.

Until they dropped down to his sparkling green palm and he grimaced, realising what he’d done.

“Great,” he huffed, rolling his eyes. “Now it’s all over me too...”

Yuuri just pressed a finger over his lips, trying to hold back his laughs.

He couldn’t help it - Victor raining glitter from his silver hair, pouting adorably, with a fidgety, naughty puppy in his arms equally sparkling … it was just too cute. He slipped his phone quietly out of his back pocket.

Victor blinked up when it flashed.

“Yuuri? Wha-”

“My two favourite Vitya’s,” Yuuri just explained softly, tucking his phone away again. He leaned forward, combing Victor’s green glittered grey bangs back from his face with his fingers and tucking them behind an ear. He dipped a kiss to the tip of Victor’s nose, watching the pink blush creep over the director’s cheekbones. It suited him. He liked it. “Gorgeous in glitter.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone who commented and messaged me on Tumblr to cheer me up. It's really appreciated <3


	60. Occupational Hazard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For lostinaseaofstars

“Morning Yuuri!” Victor called across the office as soon as Yuuri walked in, Phichit a heartbeat behind him.

Yuuri paused, squinting.

Victor waved, arm swinging wide over his head. He was being obvious - far from the subtle they’d agreed they should interact together at work, but he just couldn’t help it. He was just glad to see Yuuri!

Still though, Yuuri just squinted.

Victor tried to bury his stab of disappointment, watching Yuuri’s eyes scan around the office right over Victor like he couldn’t even see him….it didn’t work.

He was across the office in a heartbeat.

“Yuuri, I said-”

Hands clasped either side of his face, Yuuri’s palms warm against his cheeks. Or was that Victor blushing? He found it hard to tell as Yuuri pulled him in and leaned forward, so close their noses were nearly touching. He could taste the coffee on Yuuri’s breath, see the swirl of concentration in his sweet, cinnamon eyes. W-was Yuuri going to kiss him? Here?  _ Now? _

Victor’s heart was beating wildly in his chest, battering against his ribcage like a jackhammer. His lips parted on instinct.

Then Yuuri’s eyes flashed.

“Oh!” he suddenly smiled, eyes cracking open brightly with his grin. “ Victor, it’s you. Good morning.”

His hands fell away from Victor’s cheeks, straightening up with an innocent smile as he kept on walking… Victor blinked dumbly, feeling the heat radiating off his face and his lips still hovered apart waiting for the kiss that never came...

Phichit gave him  _ a look _ .

“Yuuri broke his glasses this morning,” he explained as he passed, following Yuuri across the office to their desks.

Victor straightened up, feeling foolish.

Suddenly, his face felt even hotter.  _ Ah,  _ he thought, straightening his waistcoat and brushing his bangs coolly out of his eyes. He cleared his throat.

He hoped Chris wouldn’t find out about it.

 

* * *

It turned out though, Victor wasn’t the only one.

 

* * *

“Yurio?”

Yuuri squinted hard as he leaned in over the papers Yuri was holding out to him, missing his signature. The teen just leaned back, spine arching impressively to put more space in the narrow gap between their faces. His green eyes flashed dangerously.

Yuuri didn’t notice, too busy scouring over the rest of his face. “Yeah,” he finally said, straightening up again with a smile. “You are Yurio. Sorry.”

Yurio’s eye just twitched.

 

* * *

“JJ? No… JJ? S-sorry! Um, h-have you seen JJ? I can’t se-”

“He’s over there.”

Yuuri followed the general flash of movement from someone’s waving hand, stumbling slowly through the office towards the mop of raven black hair. He squinted hard. It didn’t help much. He leaned forward, honing in on the dark hair and –  _ blue? Yes, blue _ – blue eyes. It still didn’t help much… “JJ?”

He leaned too far.

Blinking, he felt his eyelashes graze over the tip of JJ’s nose, felt the tiny graze of skin as the tips of their noses brushed…

 

* * *

_ “Could a first aider please report to the second floor for a Mr Leroy.” _

 

* * *

 

 

Yuuri didn’t catch the flash of silver hair nearly walk into a wall outside the IT Department.

* * *

 

 

It simply wouldn’t do, Victor thought half way through the day with his cheek grumpily propped up in his fist, watching Yuuri lean in close to his computer the way he’d been leaning into everybody’s faces all morning. Him, he didn’t mind. But everyone else…

He stood up suddenly, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair. He was across the office in a matter of strides.

“Yuuri.”

Yuuri squinted up from his computer.

Victor tried to ignore the stab of jealousy at the thought of how many people must have seen that adorable expression so far today. “Come with me.”

 

* * *

 

Half an hour later, they walked out of the opticians with Yuuri’s newly fixed glasses back on his face. He adjusted them slightly on his nose, scrunching his face to get them to sit right.

“Thanks, Victor,” he said as his face smoothed out, flashing a grateful smile over at the director. “I wouldn’t have been able to get them fixed until the weekend without you.”

Victor tried not to wince.

There was no way he would have survived a whole week of Yuuri staring into his eyes at point blank range like that….

“It’s no trouble,” he just smiled stiffly.

He was just glad the whole ordeal was over. Maybe he would be able to calm down now that Yuuri wouldn’t have to practically kiss somebody to see them.

“I don’t know how I’ll make it up to you…”

Victor rolled his eyes to the sky thinking. He didn’t care about the time or the money - just the frantic heartbeats that had shaved years off his life watching Yuuri hone in so close to all the men in the office all day. He wasn’t too proud to admit he was jealous. He wanted Yuuri all to himself, even if he couldn’t show it around the office.

He scanned around the street, looking for any faces he might recognise - or more importantly, might recognise them.

Victor thought for a moment.

He knew what he wanted.

He didn’t break stride as he side stepped into the next alleyway, arm linking with Yuuri’s and pulling the clerk in with him. Yuuri’s back hit the brickwall of the adjoining building, Victor quickly leaning in over him. Yuuri barely had a chance to gasp before Victor was stealing from his lips. 

He kissed hard and fast, kissing Yuuri to within an inch of his life. He couldn’t help it. He’d wanted to do that all day…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may not reply to messages of prompts on Tumblr or asks, because generally if I leave it as unread that is my reminder to do it. I really do have the worst memory. So, sorry. I’m not trying to be rude, I’m just trying not to forget you XD


	61. Billy Bullshitter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember when I called this fic a 'Short piece I did for Career Week' right at the start? xD How naive xD

Yuuri was smiling and nodding. And smiling. And nodding. And smiling some more. And nodding some more. Was Michele still talking? Yes. Yes, he was…

 

* * *

 

Across the office, Phichit was dying.

“What do you think he’d bragging about this time?” he asked Yurio over the computers with the biggest shit eating grin on his face. 

Yurio just blinked up from his phone, mouth a thin line. His eyes barely glanced at Yuuri and Michele across the office before they were dipping back down to Instagram again. “I don’t know. What the hell does it matter?”

“Michele always tells the biggest fibs.”

That caught Yuri’s attention. 

The teen frowned, glancing up again. “What?”

Phichit just grinned wider.

“He always comes up with ridiculous stuff. He told me that he was a designer for Drake in New York once.”

Yurio sat up a little straighter in his chair. “ _ What?!” _

“Yeah,” Phichit’s eyes were glowing. “He always comes up with crazy stuff like that. He doesn’t talk to me anymore because he knows I’ll try and catch him out about it, but Yuuri…” Phichit’s eyes drifted across the office, shining wide with intrigue. “I’ve gotta find out what he’s talking about.”

 

* * *

 

Phichit pushed himself out of his chair with a flounce, trying not to grin too hard. He didn’t want to talk to Michele after all. He just wanted to rescue Yuuri so he could get the gossip. Yuuri’s eyes flashed as they caught Phichit over Michele’s shoulder, glittering with stark relief.

“I swam for Italy when I was only eight-”

“Heeeey,” Phichit cut in, sliding in next to Yuuri and linking an arm through his. He didn’t look at Michele. He knew he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face if he did. “Yuuri, can I steal you for a second?”

“Well, um-”

“Thank you!”

He pulled his best friend away before he could say another word, Michele looking stunned as they disappeared. Phichit didn’t stop until they were back at their desks, and Michele had  _ finally _ walked away.

“He was trying to teach me Japanese,” Yuuri said as soon as they were clear, face stunned. “I saw some hiragana on his notepad and asked him about it, and next thing I knew, he was  _ trying to teach me what it meant!  _ I mean,” Yuuri’s finger circled around his face. His very Japanese face. “Hello!” 

Phichit didn’t even bother trying to hold back the giggles. “I love that guy. He always comes up with something incredible.”

“I don’t know,” Yuuri crinkled his nose as he sat down, plopping himself in a chair. “I think it’s kind of sad. Do you think he does it to be protective of Sara? You know, to look like he can provide for her and stuff?”

He was known for being insanely possessive of his sister, after all. More than one employee had been scared into handing in their resignation after naively chatting with Sara in the cafeteria.

“How do you know it’s all not true?” Yurio asked, leaning forward on his forearms. What could he say? He was interested.

“It just doesn’t add up,” Phichit dismissed with a wave. “Seriously, some of the things he says... like, modelling in London and living in Dubai - why would you work here after something like that?! From Drake, to Stammi Vicino Purchasing Department? I don’t buy it.”

“He’s studying to be a luxury estate agent now apparently too,” Yuuri chipped in. “He doesn’t have to pay for the exams-”

“-some guy pays them for him-”

“-but Michele doesn’t work for him-”

“-nor has he been promised a job. And the pass rate is apparently 95% for the exams-”

“-which is ridiculous-”

“-my accounting exams are only 70% for the pass mark-”

“-it just doesn’t add up.”

Yurio blinked back and forth at the tag team, a little blown away. He’d never look at Michele in the same way again...

“It’s weird,” Phichit went on. “Because Sara is so  _ nice-” _

“Awh, thank you!”

All three of them jumped as Sara popped up from behind the filing cabinets behind the desks, armfuls of papers and folders clutched tight in her arms. She beamed wide, eyes bright at the compliment.

“Um,” Yuuri stammered, face draining of colour. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see you-”

“It’s okay,” Sara just waved off, still smiling. “I’ve heard it all before with Mickey. And I don’t know how he managed to do all that stuff when the guy doesn’t even have a passport.”

Phichit burst out laughing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just had to get this off my chest, sorry Michele. We’ve got a guy at work like this and he drives us mad. All the claims in this fic, he's said to us and I’m not calling him a liar, but…. his mum is xD she was the one who dropped in that he didn’t have a passport xD how did you get to New York, hm? Dubai? I’m just sayin’.


	62. The New Woman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For jfmesq

Yuuri knocked on Victor’s apartment door, itching to see him. It had been another long day, with no time to see Victor at the office. There had been too many days like that recently. 

Waiting at the door, Yuuri wondered if he should really ask about doing something about that. They’d been getting serious, he’d even stayed over a few nights. Maybe he should ask for a spare key, so he could let himself in. That would be the next step, right? And if Victor was really serious about-

The door opened...but it wasn’t Victor standing there.

A woman filled the doorway. 

Her fiery red hair was what Yuuri noticed first, then her blue eyes… then the way her hip leaned casually against the doorframe like she was familiar with the place like she was comfortable, like she knew it... 

Yuuri’s breath caught, heart dropping into his stomach.

Who was this woman?

Yuuri’s mind instantly went to the worst - Victor was having an affair. With the lady? With  _ him? _ Maybe she was Victor’s real girlfriend and Yuuri was the other woman? Did she have a ring? Yuuri’s gaze jerked down and he felt his stomach lurch when he saw a diamond sparkle on her ring finger. Engaged? Married? Yuuri couldn’t bear to keep looking to find out. If she was Victor’s wife, did that mean Victor had kids? Secret wife, secret kids, making Yuuri the villainous homewrecker-

“You must be Yuuri!” the woman beamed, stepping forward. Yuuri nearly fainted when she pulled him forward in a tight hug. She was stronger than he’d expected. “Victor’s told me so much about you!”

“H-he has?!”

Yuuri stared wide eyed over the woman’s shoulder. Victor had told his  _ wife  _ about him? What the-

The man himself appeared.

“Yuuri!”

Victor froze in the middle of the apartment mid stride, tie loose around his neck and buttons open and ruffled. His eyes popped wide with surprise.

Yuuri’s did the same, raking over Victor’s attire.  _ Please _ say he hadn’t just walked in on Victor making out with his newly returned  _ wife- _

A wide smile cracked over Victor’s face. 

“I didn’t think you were coming until later!” Victor said, yanking his tie over his head. It left his hair ruffled - sinfully so - like he’d just had se- “This is Mila,” he said, wrapping an arm around the woman’s shoulders and smiling warmly. “You haven’t met yet, have you?”

Yuuri’s brain turned to mush.

_ Mila Nikiforov. _

He felt like he was going to be sick.

“I’ve been waiting to meet you for ages,” Mila gushed, blue eyes rolling enthusiastically. “I’m the new neighbour. Me and my girlfriend just moved in next door a few days ago. I think you know her though. Sara? Sara Crispino? Apparently, she works at your place! Small world, right?”

Yuuri just stared, trying to process all the information. Had- had she said neighbour? A rush of air left him in a relieved sigh, smile flickering over his lips. She wasn’t Victor’s wife. Thank God for that...

“She’s a vet student, Yuuri!” Victor beamed from over her shoulder. “It’s been  _ soooo  _ helpful with the kids.”

Yuuri blinked. “K-kids?”

Victor’s smile stuttered.

“Sorry, I, um,” Victor’s cheeks darkened, red flush crawling over the bridge of his nose. He glanced down, unable to hold Yuuri’s eye. “I meant the puppies.”

Yuuri’s heart stuttered. Oh God, Victor calling the puppies their kids was everything Yuuri hadn’t known he’d wanted but it was  _ terrible  _ for his blood pressure. His heart felt like it was pounding out of his chest, fighting the urge to press his hand to his sternum for fear of giving himself away.

“I was just going to help her bring some stuff up from the delivery van,” Victor went on, cheeks still adorably pink. “I didn’t think you were coming until later, or I-”

“It’s fine,” Yuuri cut him off, grinning. “Go. I’ll just go say hi to the kids, and I’ll be down to help too.”

Yuuri saw Victor’s glittery eyed gasp more than he heard it.


	63. Office Night Out, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For loviv and ShikiRai

Yuuri’s day was going quiet. Uneventful, email inbox bare, files reconciled and reports up to date… quiet – until Victor leaned over the edge of his desk, a mischievous look in the director’s eye.

“How old is Phichit?” he asked, grinning.

Yuuri just blinked at him, confused. “Twenty… why?”

“Does he have a fake ID?”

“Um…” Yuuri was pretty sure he did, but he wasn’t sure he was really supposed to share that sort of thing with their boss…

Victor’s eyes rolled playfully, teasing. “We’ve got some money left in the budget so we’re organising an office night out to burn through it,” he explained quietly, voice barely more than a whisper. “You and Phichit interested?”

“Er…”

_ Yes,  _ was Yuuri’s initial, immediate thought. He didn’t need much motivation for wanting to see Victor outside of work and now that it was being offered to him freely, all expenses paid… it was almost too good to be true. He wanted to go. He definitely wanted to go, to see what Victor was like outside of work, to have a fun night out together…

One thing nagged at him though, already scolding himself for questioning a miracle - “Should we really be using the budget for that?”

A night out sounded a great idea… but not if it was going to get them a disciplinary from Yakov Feltsman later down the line…

Victor didn’t even blink. “If we don’t use up the budget, they’ll cut it next quarter.”

“Right…”

“So…” Victor’s eyes sparkled keenly. “You in?”

It was a bad idea. A really bad idea – Yuuri and alcohol with a tempting man around him and all of his work colleagues as witnesses sounded like a disaster waiting to happen, the beginning of the end of his life and dignity.

Yuuri said yes anyway.

 

* * *

“What do you mean Victor’s picking us up?” Phichit asked while he touched up the wings of his eyeliner in the mirror, barely an inch of space between his face and his reflection. His mouth hung open gormlessly, forgotten entirely for the sake of his makeup.

Yuuri just shrugged across the room, slipping his phone into the back pocket of his jeans. “As in he’s picking us up. Me, you, him, and Chris, and we’ll meet Georgi at the station.”

“Ugh,” Phichit groaned, tipping his head back dramatically. “Georgi is going to be such a drag!”

Yuuri just pulled a face.

He wasn’t crazy about Georgi either. There wasn’t anything wrong with him per say, he just wasn’t part of their clich, wasn’t quite on that level with them like Victor and Chris were.  

“Be nice,” Yuuri forced himself to say, knowing they couldn’t avoid it. They just had to make do with it now. Who knew – maybe the guy would turn out to be a good time…maybe… “He’s part of the team. And he’s Victor’s friend.”

A groan was all that answered him.

Yuuri hadn’t expected anything else.

He jumped when a car horn honked outside, dropping his wallet on the floor. His heart leapt into his mouth, nerves suddenly fried and on edge. Oh God – was it really time already? Yuuri bolted across the bedroom for the window, just to check.

“Is  _ that  _ them?” Phichit asked, peeling himself away from the mirror.

Yuuri’s mouth snapped open instinctively to say  _ yes _ , eyes scanning the car park for Victor’s suave black work car in the parking lot before he did. He wasn’t looking for long.

But it wasn’t a black car he found.

“Oh God…”

“What the hell is that?!” Phichit laughed behind him.

Yuuri vaguely remembered Victor telling him that he had a hot pink convertible. It was one thing hearing about it though – it was something else entirely to  _ see _ it.

It was very pink. Very bright. Very unignorable. And very loud – horn blasting through the apartment complex car lot one more time, Yuuri able to catch a glimpse of silver and blonde hair in the front two seats. He heard laughter as the noise of the horn faded away, heart pounding a mile a minute in his chest. He should have known Victor wouldn’t be subtle…

Yuuri dragged Phichit out the flat before they’d got honked again, drawing more attention – more of their  _ neighbour’s _ attention! – to the ostentatious car.

“Nice car, Victor,” Phichit said as he hopped in the back, Yuuri close behind.

Victor smiled over his shoulder from the front seat, bright and relaxed, hands draped loosely over the steering wheel. He looked good in his jeans and dark shirt, bangs crinkled and swept back a little wilder than usual from his face. His usually sharp blue eyes were alive and dancing with sparkles, glittering in the low light like gems. Yuuri thought they were breathtaking.

When they settled on him, his heart damned near stopped. “Hi, Yuuri,” Victor purred, voice like velvet.

Yuuri melted helplessly.

“You really have a pink convertible…”

“I really have a pink convertible.”

Yuuri’s head just shook, not quite believing it was all real. The car, the night – all of it! It had to be a dream, and any moment now, he’d wake up drooling into his pillow…

… he didn’t though.

He didn’t say anything as they drove, in a daze the whole way. Through the drive, through Phichit’s selfie in the back seat, through parking the car and Phichit’s hand dragging him forward towards the station behind Victor and Chris, bright blue eyes glancing back and luring him in unfairly.

Phichit broke the illusion when he staggered to a halt, hand tight around Yuuri’s yanking his best friend to a stop too.

“Oh God,” Phichit said, voice laced with horror. “What is he  _ wearing _ ?”

It took a minute for Yuuri to catch up.

He followed Phichit’s gaze down the length of the road, down to the station sign, and the figure stood waiting beneath it with a familiar black quaff of hair… and dressed all in white. For a minute, Yuuri just blinked, thinking it was the light – but it wasn’t! Georgi was wearing white jeans and a white shirt – white shoes even! Even Yuuri knew that was just… not cool.

“He looks like a pimp!”

“Phichit-”

Yuuri didn’t get any further before a groan cut him off, Victor’s shoulders slumping and his head tipping back miserably.

“Ugh,” the director groaned again. “He does look like a pimp…”

 

* * *

The minute they got to the first bar, Phichit slapped his hand on the counter, a sparkle in his eye. “Shots, please,” he declared to the barman.

Yuuri yanked him back.

“Phichit!” he hissed, eyes flashing wide.

“What?”

“Shots for the first drink?!”

Phichit just shrugged, gaze travelling over Yuuri’s shoulder to where Victor and Chris were busy having an intervention with Georgi by the door. “Victor said we had to burn the cash, so…” he winked. “Shots.”

“But-”

“No buts! We’ve worked hard for this night out.” He turned back to the barman, tipping Victor’s sleek business American Express across the bar. “Two Sambucas please.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We did this in my last job and it was BRILLIANT!
> 
> So... most of the second half of this chapter is written, but I am in Germany until the end of the week so I probably won't be able to add much to it beyond notes on my phone. I have that thing where I can write like a fountain on my laptop, but on my phone? Like a dripping tap. Nothing. So next one may be late if all goes badly, just a forewarning.
> 
> But this trip could then produce some cute Christmas Market/Germany work trip chapters in the future... 
> 
> Also, I am running out of ideas. The plan is to start winding down the story in the new year, which breaks my heart to admit, so if there are any more office drabble ideas you want to see, then don't keep quiet. Time is short. I will be drafting the final plan over New Year.


	64. Office Night Out, Part 2

Yuuri had lost count of the drinks. Shots, and then champagne, and then more shots, and more champagne - the good stuff too! The stuff that went down as light as lemonade and had Yuuri bubbling the right side of drunk as he danced, fingertips tingling happily. Victor was really trying to burn through that budget…

He couldn’t even see Victor anymore - he’d quickly gotten lost in the sea of bodies not long after they’d hit the dance floor. Yuuri could only just still see Phichit out of the corner of his eye and he knew that was only because he knew his best friend always kept close when they were out. 

A pair of bright, sparkling blue eyes caught his attention through the faces in the crowd… but they weren’t Victor’s. His heart sank a little, sobering him a fraction.

He needed another drink.

 

* * *

Victor watched on from the corner of the bar as Yuuri grabbed Phichit’s hand and pulled him off the dancefloor, making a beeline for the cutest bartender. He tried not to let it get to him - it didn’t stop him pouting into his vodka though.

“So he’ll hold Phichit’s hand in public but not mine?” he sulked bitterly, folding his arms across his chest.

He knew it was stupid. It was irrational.

….but Victor was drunk.

Chris slung a sloppy arm over his shoulders. “You’re supposed to be keeping that a secret, you know.”

“Yeah, I know…”

It was hard though. Keeping his distance when Yuuri was wearing those skinny jeans that looked all but painted on, skin glowing, and the confidence just radiating from his face… Victor had been missing out. He should have gotten Yuuri to dance for him sooner. He looked so comfortable moving to the music, like  _ finally _ he was sure of himself. It was nice to see. Victor wanted to see it more.

...but not with other sleazebags watching too, clearly sharing the same gutter thoughts. Victor didn’t remotely like it.

Yuuri was too damned hot for his own good.

Even just stood with Phichit at the bar, Victor could see other mens’ eyes wandering from either side of them, gathering interest just by existing. It got worse when they saddled closer, said hi, clearly offering to buy Yuuri a drink… and Yuuri just smiled at them so innocently, so politely, so  _ gorgeously.. _ . it wasn’t fair, Victor thought. Everyone else got Yuuri at full sparkle, and Victor only got him behind closed doors.

 

* * *

 

One look had been all it had taken. One glance at the slight downturn to Victor’s mouth as he sipped on his vodka - eyes low and bitter - and Yuuri was across the bar in a shot. 

_ With _ a shot.

He couldn’t help it - they were supposed to be out for _ fun _ , weren’t they? The idea that Victor wasn’t enjoying himself, was sad… Yuuri couldn’t stand it.

And he didn't want to. 

He wanted Victor. Being careful around the office yet coming home to his apartment and it really starting to feel like  _home_... Yuuri was getting tired of the lie. Of the pretending. He knew they had to, that they didn't have a choice if they both wanted to keep their jobs, but... he wanted more. He wanted everything. 

And for one night, nobody was going to stop him.

Victor’s brilliant blue eyes blinked bright with surprise as Yuuri skidded to a stop in front of him, grinning wide over the shot of dangerous clear alcohol. For a moment, they just stared, drinking in the sparkle in each other’s eyes, the blush on their cheeks…

“Dance with me,” Yuuri heard himself say, heart flittering at the words.

And then Victor smiled too.

 

* * *

 

Dancing helped. Dancing helped a lot - especially when Yuuri looked at him like he was the only man in the world, eyes sparkling and gorgeous, moving with such wonderful abandon… it was a sin to keep this man trapped behind a desk, Victor was quickly realising. An absolute crime.

It wasn’t even the sensual grinding that Victor had seen Yuuri do earlier with Phichit either, smooth and sexy. This was… this was Yuuri having  _ fun. _

The flush darkened high on the clerk’s cheekbones, hair slicking awkwardly to his forehead with sweat, and the smile on his face so hopelessly happy that Victor hoped the night would go on forever to keep it. He couldn’t help it. The way Yuuri looked at him, eyes aglow with something so fun yet tender, Victor hardly dared name it…

He held tight to Yuuri’s hand, letting the confident clerk pull him through the dancefloor and guide him through a dance, a tango, a salsa - Victor wasn’t sure how they could dance tango to club music, but somehow Yuuri made it work. He was in awe.

And if he was honest...

He was in love.

 

* * *

 

An hour later, Victor was dying.

He’d seen Yuuri change under the alcohol. People did. It wasn’t an unusual thing. Phichit became a monster with a camera, Chris flirted with anything that moved, Victor apparently became the twenty seven year old equivalent of a whiny teenage girl, and Yuuri …  _ well, Yuuri… _

Yuuri had rid himself of his skinny jeans and shirt - clad in nothing but his surprisingly form fitting underwear - fingers curled delicately around the metal stripper pole by the side of the DJ booth. Victor hadn’t even known the bar even  _ had _ a pole until Yuuri had found it. And now there wasn’t a single eye that was blind to it - nor the vixen working it.

Victor forgot how closing his mouth worked, jaw just hanging shamelessly open as he watched Yuuri’s long gorgeous legs stretch along the pole. 

But he wasn’t the only one.

Yet again, the sparkle wasn’t just for him. 

He buried the burn of bitter jealousy down with the sting of vodka until Yuuri was nothing more than a blur of colour across the bar.


	65. Office Night Out, Part 3

The world was swaying a bit by the time Victor stepped out into the cold night for a breath of fresh air, pressing his eyes shut and pulling in a deep lungful of cool oxygen. It was nice. Refreshing. 

It didn’t help much.

He was too drunk… but then every time his eyes wandered over to Yuuri - surrounded by other men, pants on or off - and suddenly he didn’t feel anywhere near drunk enough. 

Chris wasn’t being very supportive in stopping him.

And Georgi was already crying around the corner, leaving voicemails on his girlfriend’s answerphone.  _ Classy _ .

Victor breathed in deep, trying not to think. He didn’t want to think about Yuuri anymore. Yuuri who had been gorgeous, yet unattainable all night. Yuuri who Victor hadn’t been able to take his eyes off of, yet Yuuri seemed to have had no trouble keeping away from his side. Maybe Victor wasn’t as serious to Yuuri as he’d first thought. He wasn’t even sure where Yuuri was anymore. He’d disappeared - maybe with some other man - leaving Victor feeling wrung out, and alone, and tired, and-

“You too, huh?”

Victor’s eyes snapped wide open.

A part of him hoped that he was so drunk he was hallucinating when his eyes rolled over and saw Yuuri leaned against the wall of the bar - pants on, mercifully! - eyes sparkling, and shirt hanging loosely off him enough to flash a tempting glimpse of his collarbones. He’d come outside to get away from watching Yuuri get hit on, for a break… 

But when he saw that Yuuri was  _ alone _ , it snapped up his attention. His mood spiked instantly, heart rate with it. 

His eyes quickly fell to the smoldering cigarette between Yuuri’s fingers.

“I didn’t know you smoked,” he heard himself say, hearing the words like somebody else had said them rather than his own mouth. 

He was too drunk to feel any shame though.

Yuuri’s eyelashes fluttered slowly -  _ deliberately _ \- as his gaze dropped down to the cigarette. “Only when I’m drunk…” he said, taking a leisurely drag. 

Victor watched, fascinated. Just when he thought he knew everything, Yuuri was always there to surprise him….

A thin line of smoke trailed up from the tip of the cigarette, ghosting over the smoulder of Yuuri’s eyes perfectly as they glanced up again, hooded and alluring. “I make a lot of bad decisions when I’m drunk.”

_ How could Victor resist? _

Victor sucked in a shaky breath from where he was rooted to the spot, tongue darting out to wet his suddenly parched lips. He needed another drink...

“Oh, really?” he rasped, hardly recognising his own voice. “L-like what?”

Yuuri sauntered closer.

Victor’s heartbeat hammered with every careful step he took, hips arching sinfully with every stride. He couldn’t help it, eyes drawn to them, following like a man possessed.

Until Yuuri licked his lips and Victor was drawn to that instead, helpless. He couldn’t take his eyes away, staring longingly at the enticing pink lips of Yuuri’s mouth, the lips he knew exactly how liked to be kissed…

Yuuri glanced down to Victor’s mouth. “Like this.” 

Victor didn’t know what happened.

One minute Yuuri had been standing there, cigarette cooly balanced in his fingers and gaze simply smouldering… and the next, Victor’s back hit the wall. He groaned instinctively as Yuuri’s mouth smothered over his, warm and satisfying, his lips moist yet dry from the smoke at the same time. It tasted heady, tasting the smoke fresh off Yuuri’s lips blended with the sickening sweetness of his cherry lip gloss. Victor was helpless to resist.

 

* * *

 

Victor walked back into the bar hand and hand with Yuuri, wide eyed and stunned. His lips were stained pink from Yuuri’s lip gloss.

Chris smirked knowingly.

And Phichit squealed with delight, bouncing excitedly on the spot with eyes glowing round like dinner plates. “I’m so happy for you two!”

Victor just blinked, stunned.

Beside him, Yuuri blushed, cheeks staining the most gorgeous shade of dark ruby pink. His eyes glanced down, flickering with a dart of shyness that Victor had almost forgotten he possessed after how bold he’d been all night. The cigarette must have sobered him up. Victor had the unquenchable urge to fix that.

Apparently, so did Yuuri. 

“I, um,” he glanced up to Victor, flushing darker. His eyelashes fluttered gloriously. “I’m going to, er-”

He let go of Victor’s hand. 

Victor might have thought more into it if he hadn’t still been so stunned himself, just nodding dumbly as Yuuri pointed over to the bar. Bar. Drink. Right. Yes, they both needed that. Badly.

An arm clapped over Victor’s shoulders the second Yuuri slunk away, but Victor barely noticed. He was too busy still looking at Yuuri, unable to take his eyes off him. Especially when Yuuri threw back a Bambi eyed glance over his shoulder, eyes round and gorgeous, and-

Victor caught his breath as he caught his gaze.

God, he was hopeless.

He could hear Chris talking in his ear, whittling away in his typical sultry voice with a chuckle, and a sterner tone, and something about Yakov-

Victor wasn’t listening.

He was still watching Yuuri, the clerk’s back to him as he stood at the bar, elbows on the table and pushed up on his toes. It made the muscles in his legs tense gloriously, showing off their lean shape that led a spectacular path up to his ass-

That was covered by a hand.

Not Victor’s hand.

The Director frowned, heart skipping a beat in his chest. He followed the hand to the wrist, to an arm, connected to a broad shouldered, tanned form leaning in behind Yuuri with dark slicked back hair, bright white teeth, and keen eyes...eyes that weren’t on Yuuri’s face, that was for sure.

Victor saw red.

The touch was bad enough - Yuuri visibly stiffening at the hand on his ass and shrinking as the man leaned in closer - but then when the guy leaned down indecently close, lips by Yuuri’s ear.

The clack of a glass hitting a table behind him shook Victor back to reality.

“Can’t leave him alone for a minute…” Phichit huffed, rolling his eyes. He stepped forward - but Victor’s arm shot out.

His eyes still lingered on the men at the bar, narrowed and dangerous. 

He couldn’t help it.

“I’ve got this,” he murmured.

He wasn’t sure what had come over him - beyond the tightness in his chest and the rage burning in his veins. His mouth felt tight as he turned away from the party, a thin, tense line as he made his way to the bar. He wasn’t sure what irritated him most - the hand, the whisper, the sheer audacity of the man when Yuuri clearly wasn’t interested-

Victor snaked an arm around Yuuri’s shoulders and yanked him free, slipping into the gap between the man and Yuuri. His hips bumped against Yuuri’s, pulling them flush.

Yuuri’s eyes flashed round when they saw Victor.

Victor knew this was a bad idea…

He grinned anyway. “Hey, baby.”

He swooped down and kissed Yuuri hard - making sure the guy could see everything. Every crushing breath Victor kissed off Yuuri’s mouth, the slip of their tongues dancing, the grip of Yuuri’s hands fisting in the front of Victor’s shirt as he leaned into the embrace… Victor looped an arm around Yuuri’s waist, pressing them closer together against the bar.

He couldn’t help it. He didn’t care anymore. Not even about the click of the phone behind them.

 

* * *

 

Yuuri giggled into Victor’s chest, the director’s arms still tight around him as they waited for the subway train. Every few moments they stole another kiss, hands wondering, the warmth of the other’s body pressed against their own...

“I knew it!” Phichit cackled from the floor of the station, back leaned against the wall of the escalator and knee drawn up. “I knew it, I knew it!”

A box of chicken nuggets sat in his lap, thudding softly against the station for as the threw them with skewed aim. Most landed around Chris’s feet. He chuckled softly, glancing over his shoulder with fond eyes. He was the most sober of them all.

Georgi had long disappeared. 

The Monday morning office felt a million miles away, like another world as Victor held Yuuri in his arms, giggling into the place where Yuuri’s neck met his shoulder. At least he didn’t have the budget to worry about anymore.


	66. Office Birthdays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Wateryli

Victor tipped his head to the side, cracking his neck. It eased the stiffness that had started tensing his shoulders, that had begun to nag at the back of his mind. It was irritating him. Year end was irritating him. Christmas Eve, and the end of the month was looming closer faster than Victor dared linger on…

The lights went out. 

Victor’s eyes jerked up.

He hadn’t notice the office empty. He hadn’t paid any attention, but now - through the darkness dimming the office, blinds drawn to hold out the daylight - he could see. 

_ No one. _

His stomach flipped.  _ What the- _

“Happy birthday to you!”

His eyes swung round at the voices, round to the office door - from the cafeteria. A flicker of light shone in the doorway, delicate like candlelight.  _ Wait  _ \- it  _ was  _ candlelight. A row of candles on top of … was that a cake?

“Happy birthday to you!”

And there were the rest of his staff - Chris, Phichit, even Yurio! And Yuuri, illuminated by the soft, gentle candlelight…

Yuuri was right at the front, gorgeous round cheeks glowing under the delicate light and his eyes sparkling, hair messed up a little on his forehead but it was too dark for Victor to really see what was wrong with it. He didn’t care. He felt his heart skip a beat and his lips twitch in the corners, still a little numb with surprise.

“Happy birthday to Victor!”

_ For him?! _

It took a minute for Victor to catch on.

It was Christmas Eve. His birthday was tomorrow, 25th December, Christmas Day - but he hadn’t told anyone. How had they-

The closer the party got, the closer Victor could see Chris’s mischievous, twinkling eyes. 

_ Of course. _

He slumped back in his chair in surrender, small smile twitching at his lips. He never really celebrated his birthday much, never less at work. He should have known though. Chris was always up to mischief. And with Yuuri now in the picture… of course, he’d want to know Victor’s birthday.

“Happy birthday to you!”

It wasn’t until the group were just a few paces away that Victor finally saw the reason Yuuri’s hair was messed up.

A huge gold ribbon tied around his forehead, drawn together in an elaborate bow at the side of his head. Victor’s eyes glowed when he saw it. It was like Yuuri was a gift for him, the gold making Yuuri’s skin simply glow. Yuuri was… well, Yuuri looked… so _cute!_ _Adorable_ , he thought, feeling his mouth drift open in wonder. Absolutely adorable-

“Stop gawking, old man!” Yurio suddenly snapped through Victor’s trance. “Blow the candles out before we burn the building down.”

Victor blinked, feeling his cheeks warm. “R-right.”

He’d forgotten about the others.

His heart was still stuttering as he tore his eyes from Yuuri, letting them fall down to the cake… and then his smile died.

He’d expected frosting, a few layers, maybe some writing in delicate, elegant iced letters… instead he got a round, nude coloured dome with a pair of sleek silver eyebrows on the front the exact same shade as Victor’s, encircled in candles. Almost like… a bald head. He knew in a heartbeat, pressing his lips together in a tight smirk. He  _ knew.  _

“You bitch...” he muttered stiffly.

Chris just winked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wonder what he wished for...
> 
> Have a great Christmas !


	67. Bank Holidays

Yuuri had a mouthful of Dorito and salsa dip when his phone rang at just past 9:30pm on New Year’s Eve, clicking the answer button without even bothering to look at the screen.

“Hello?” he said through a mouthful of food.

_ “I need your help.” _

Yuuri nearly choked.

Of all the things he’d expected on New Year’s Eve – a phone call from his mum, a blind date Phichit had set up, confirmation of his exam date – a call from Victor Nikiforov was not one of them.

Especially sounding like  _ that _ .

It should have been concerning listening to Victor plead. He sounded stressed and Yuuri could hear his tense breathing down the line, rushes of air that betrayed just how riles up Victor was, but those few words had been just the right side of whining, of begging… his mind went to the gutter, and his blood went to his face.

Yuuri’s eyes popped wide and he gasped when he nearly swallowed the bite into his lungs instead of his stomach. His eyes watered, fighting the urge to cough.

_ “Please say you took your laptop home?” _

“Y-yeah, I-”  _ Please don’t say I had agreed to do some work and forgotten,  _ Yuuri begged silently in his head, shoving the packet of chips off his lap and climbing off the sofa. His laptop bag was in the corner of his flat, staring at him accusingly. “Hold on, let me log in.”

He squished the phone between his ear and shoulder as he logged in in record time, fingers moving with the speed of light despite the way they shook slightly.

It didn’t sound like he was the only one getting worked up.

_ “There’s an invoice that the Netherlands warehouse send at one minute to closing earlier and the invoice is just sat there-” _

“It’s okay,” Yuuri interrupted softly, heart thudding in his chest. “I can raise it for you.”

He’d never heard Victor sound so frantic. He could practically see the director running his fingers through his hair, eyes pinched shut with tension – he could hear every inch of it down the phone line, hearing the anxious tap of Victor’s pen in the background as he fidgeted. Victor never fidgeted. It just wasn’t like him.

Yuuri pushed past his concern to get the job done.

“ _ Thank you _ ,” Victor all but gasped, sigh of relief thick and heavy down the phone line. “ _ Thank you so much.” _

Yuuri felt himself blush. “It’s no trouble.”

It really wasn’t. A few clicks later and the invoice was trickling into his email inbox, the solution to all Victor’s problems. It amazed him sometimes – how much trouble could be caused by something so simple…

“Do you want me to send it to you?”

“ _ No _ ,” Victor sighed, sounding significantly calmer than before, Yuuri able to hear his deep, calming breaths. “ _ Just knowing it’s done is enough. Thanks, Yuuri.” _

Yuuri could hear Victor’s relieved smile in his voice, feeling the tight band around his chest loosen slightly knowing that Victor was feeling more relaxed. That he’d helped, no matter how small it was. He just hoped Victor wasn’t too tired – Yuuri knew just how many late nights working Victor had taken in the run up to year end.

For now though, his director sounded happy, voice almost back to his usual purr as he gave one last relaxing sigh.

_ “Happy New Year.” _

Yuuri just smiled. “Happy New Year, Victor.”

 

* * *

Yuuri didn’t think anything more of it when Tuesday morning came around, settling down into his chair and reconnecting his laptop for the first time in the new year as per his usual routine. He didn’t expect Victor to remember. He’d put the whole thing out of his mind, so short a task it wasn’t worth remembering…

Until Victor leaned against the desk divider by Yuuri’s station, eyes sparkling and hand resting boldly on his hips.

“Hey Yuuri,” he said, pink flush on his high cheekbones. “Thanks for helping me out over New Year.”

It took a minute for Yuuri to remember.

When he did, his eyes popped round remembering. He smiled, shaking his head. “Honestly, it was no trouble.”

“I wouldn’t have called if it wasn’t urgent,” Victor’s eyes sparkled, genuine gratitude and appreciation like had laced his voice glittering down at Yuuri like he’d saved Makkachin from a truck rather than just process an invoice. “Lucky I caught you before all the New Years parties, right?”

Victor winked.

Yuuri wasn’t about to admit the only ‘parties’ Victor’s call had interrupted had been with a Sex in the City marathon in his favourite onesie and a sharing pack of Doritos to himself that he had no intention of sharing. He kept his mouth shut…

“I’ve added an extra half day to your holiday allocation for your time,” Victor went on. “Thank you.”

Yuuri had barely been logged in for ten minutes…

But he wasn’t one to argue.

Especially when Victor shot a particularly sweet smile his way, eyes sparkling and dreamy. “What would I do without you?”

Warmth glowed inside Yuuri’s chest. 


	68. Annual Appraisals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For EmmaLynna

Yuuri felt nervous stepping into his annual appraisal meeting. A part of him knew it was irrational - he was a good worker. He knew he was. He worked hard, he worked right, he had a willing attitude… but Yuuri felt a slight bundle of nerves twist in his stomach whenever Victor flashed him that smile from behind the desk, keen and knowing.

“Hi Yuuri,” the director beamed, straightening the pile of papers in front of him. “Thanks for coming. Please,” he motioned to the open chair across the desk. “Have a seat.”

Yuuri gulped down his nerves as he followed Victor’s instructions, brain still irritatingly thinking.

Good was good, but he could always be better. There was always room for improvement. He knew it, it was just a fact, a part of life. It was normal. Room for improvement was natural… but it also meant that somewhere in his performance he was less than perfect, letting Victor down somehow, even in some minute detail. Or it might be more serious after all. There might be a complaint about him he wasn’t aware about, a dress code violation that he thought had been just the right side of smart casual to get away with but hadn’t, not good enough grades-

“So Yuuri, let’s start with something simple - attendance.” Victor’s eyebrows disappeared into his hairline as he looked down at his papers, sighing. “Frankly, it’s quite poor.”

Yuuri blinked. “What?”

Had he heard that right? _Poor?_ He felt his heart drop down into his stomach, his face pale and draw long. His attendance was poor. His in-everyday-and-only-taking-one-sick-day-for-the-year attendance was poor. How was that possible?

“H-how-”

“You’ve been round my apartment only once in the last fortnight and frankly, that’s unacceptable, Mr Katsuki.”

Yuuri’s eyes popped wide - _Mr Katsuki?_!

Victor’s face was deadpan, eyes level and serious and mouth drawn in a thin line. His hands were clasped solemnly over the papers.

And then Yuuri heard the rest of Victor’s words - and frowned. Victor’s _apartment_ ? That wasn’t _work._

“I was busy,” slipped out before Yuuri realised it, catching himself just a little too late. He flushed embarrassed - but then he realised he wasn’t the only one to blame. _“You_ were busy. You said you had-”

“I want results, Mr Katsuki,” Victor said seriously. “Not excuses.”

Yuuri’s mouth snapped open… and then shut again. He swallowed his argument thickly, burying his pride. “I can do better.”

Victor’s mouth cracked in a smile. “That’s more like it.”

Yuuri breathed a sigh of relief.

“Overall though, it’s a very satisfactory report,” Victor went on, eyes dropping down to his papers again. “Hand holding is good, hugging is satisfactory, kissing is excellent. Report from your colleagues is exemplary - Makkachin sends her regards, by the way. Your walks are wonderful and your puppy delivery skills totally above board.”

Yuuri just blinked, confused. He was barely following along. This wasn’t exactly what he’d expected from this meeting…

“One thing that is in dire need of improvement though are your dates,” Victor said, tone slipping. He glanced back up to Yuuri, eyes unimpressed again. He propped his cheek in his fist, pouting. “You haven’t taken me out once.”

Yuuri’s heart dropped.

Hadn’t he?

They’d been ice skating - no, that was work. And the night out - but wait, that was for work too technically, burning through the budget. Maybe the time - no, that was for work too…

Yuuri wracked his brain, disappointed in himself by that point. He hadn’t taken his boyfriend out on a proper non-work related date even once.

_Shame on him._

Yuuri’s tongue darted out to wet his lips, nervous. “When are you free?”

Slowly, Victor’s mouth straightened out in a smile. “Good talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any suggestions for Yuuri? ;)
> 
> Because I am dumb and work way too much and think way too little, I forgot to say Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/Happy New Year to everyone, so *pops confetti* yay! 
> 
> P.S. massive thank you for all the support throughout 2018!! This fic has somehow managed to reach 45k hits and nearly 3k kudos and, wow, honestly it blows my mind. Thank you so much for reading! And here's to another good year of office antics! 
> 
> P.S.S there's something going round the comments about a missing chapter? I figured it out. Office Night Out, Part 3 was posted and then I somehow managed to save a draft of it where 66 shoulder have been. This has now been deleted and peace and harmony once again rule the day. Just so we're all on the same page, it should go:  
> 65- Office Night Out, Part 3  
> 66- Office Birthdays  
> 67- Bank Holidays
> 
> P.S.S.S I will catch up with replying to comments one day, I stg


	69. Bring Your Sister to Work Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Aelin_Hartfilia315

Yuuri was nearly out the door to go over to Victor’s when his phone buzzed with a text, car keys balanced between his teeth as he tied his laces. He clicked his phone open.

_ Victor: I’m sorry but I have to cancel tonight _

_ Victor: Something’s come up _

_ Victor: Family thing _

_ Victor: I’m sorry. I’ll explain later I promise. _

The car keys clattered to the floor.

Yuuri tried to battle down the disappointment as he slipped back out of his shoes again and text Victor back a reassuring ‘it’s fine, hope everything’s alright’ message. He knew it wasn’t Victor’s fault. He still missed him though.

 

* * *

 

 

The next morning, Victor crawled into the office an hour late... but he wasn’t alone. 

A teenage girl trailed behind him, pouting and earphones plugging her ears, flicking through her phone as she walked. Her long dark hair swept over her sharp crystal blue eyes, dressed in smart black slacks and a white, pleated blouse.

“I look ridiculous,” she grumbled quietly, not looking up from her phone. 

Victor didn’t break his stride. “If you wanted to stay in jeans, you should have stayed in school. Please, just sit down. No, not there.  _ There.” _

Yuuri tried not to stare, watching the quiet drama unfold across the office, tried to keep his business to himself… when Victor snapped his gaze up though, striding his way across the office in his direction, Yuuri locked his gaze on his computer screen, fingers typing… he had no idea what, but anything to make him look busy.

Victor sighed as he pulled up astride Yuuri’s desk. Yuuri could already sense the stress rolling off his boss-boyfriend.

“Yuuri,” he said sharply. “A word, please?”

Yuuri didn’t say a word.

He followed Victor silently, round the corner into the small meeting room just around the bend - their usual room; conveniently,  _ coincidentally  _ out of sight.

As soon as the door shut, he swallowed Yuuri in a hug.

“I’m so sorry,” he groaned in Yuuri’s ear, arms tight around him. “She just showed up last night at my place. I didn’t know she was coming. Nor did my parents it seems. She forged my mother’s signature on the permission slips for the flight and just…” his forehead dropped down onto Yuuri’s shoulder, sighing. “Showed up.”

Yuuri just frowned over Victor’s shoulder, hands smoothing over his back awkwardly. “I’m confused… who is she?”

Victor drew back slightly, hands on Yuuri’s shoulder. He stared at Yuuri - like  _ he  _ was the weird one.

“She’s my sister.”

Yuuri’s eyes blinked wide in surprise. “Oh...” 

He never would have guessed.

For one, Victor never even mentioned that he had a sister.

For second, she didn’t look anything like him. Her hair had been gloriously dark, her attitude nothing like Victor’s warm, open aura… then again, her hair did have the same natural wave that he knew Victor’s hair to have. And her skin was pale like his. And she had the same high cheekbones. And her  _ eyes- _

“Apparently mom was giving her a hard time,” Victor cut off, running a hand through his hair, dishevelling it. He looked stressed, gaze wondering to some far off corner of the room. “Found out she’s been ditching school to go to modelling agencies. Wasn’t impressed.”

“Ah…”

_ Understandable. _

“Mom said I should bring her into the office. Show her how the real world works and teach her some responsibility.”

Yuuri nodded, not sure what to say. “Well, er,” he scrambled for something to say. He wasn’t sure what Victor wanted to hear. Looking at him though… he looked like he just wanted a break… “I have some paperwork she can help with, if you want her off your back for a bit?”

Relief washed over Victor’s face in a heartbeat, mouth sighing into a smile - not quite his signature heart shape, but it was a start.

Yuuri didn’t get much of a chance to analyse it - not before Victor was swallowing him in another hug. 

“Thank you!!” he gasped over Yuuri’s shoulder. “You’re a lifesaver.”

 

* * *

 

“Yuuri, Sofia. Sofia, this is Yuuri. You’re going to help him with some paperwork while Phichit is off sick, okay?”

Yuuri wasn’t sure if he should be glad to get some extra help when Phichit was off or whether he should be terrified that it was Victor’s sister that was going to be helping him. They’d not talked much about their family. A part of Yuuri had wondered if it had been for a reason. He didn’t know. There was so much about Victor that he still didn’t know, about the man behind the title.

Now, as he set up the computer for a guest user, he looked every part of the in control director Yuuri knew him to be. His back was straight, his eyes stern… he wasn’t sure where Sofia got the nerve to ignore him for scrolling through Instagram..

“Do everything he says,” Victor said firmly. “And no phones, got it?”

Sofia’s thumb paused scrolling.

She glanced up and  _ glared  _ at her brother, Yuuri feeling chills run down his spine from it. Victor, on the other hand, didn’t seem fazed.

“Fine,” she eventually barked, slipping the phone in her pocket.

 

* * *

 

“So all you need to do is print the invoice number that’s written on the claim form, print the claim form, the invoice, and the email, then staple them all together. Simple, right?” Yuuri smiled, hoping the twitch he felt in the corner of his eye was just his imagination.

If Sofia saw it, she didn’t mention it.

“I think the word you’re looking for is boring,” she just grimaced, sinking her cheek into her fist.

Yuuri swallowed the lump in his throat.

It was going to be a long day.

 

* * *

 

Yuuri didn’t bother Sofia. He quickly caught on that she wasn’t interested and no amount of fluffing up could ever dress up how boring paperwork was. Well, it wasn’t to Yuuri. Yuuri liked the organisation of it. Paperwork was important in accounting after all, a core staple alongside the computer records. He guessed that Sofia wasn’t likely to follow in her big brothers footsteps…

She was still on Instagram - not obviously, but Yuuri wasn’t an idiot. He could see out of the corner of his eye. Her head bowed, arm tucked under the desk, the phone light glaring ever so slightly…

“No phones!”

Yuuri jumped as Celestino snapped behind him, heart skipping a beat.

Sofia didn’t even flinch though.

Technically, he knew that Celestino was right. They weren’t supposed to be on their phones during work hours - not like that anyway, so clearly avoiding work for social media.

A part of him didn’t blame Sofia though.

“Yuuri,” Yuuri jumped again as Celestino stood up behind him, laptop tucked under his arm. “I’ve got to go into a meeting. If you see her on her phone again,” his head jerked behind him, at Sofia. She didn’t even look up. “Go tell Victor. He said.”

Yuuri’s eyes popped wide.

No.

_ Oh no…  _ Celestino wasn’t serious, was he? But he was walking off already! Yuuri followed him with panic stricken eyes, praying he would turn around, laugh it off… 

He didn’t.

Yuuri’s gaze dropped back down to Sofia.

She was too busy on her phone to look back.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later, Victor dropped by. “How’s it going?”

He looked a lot more relaxed than earlier, a soft smile on his face and gentle saunter in his step. Yuuri didn’t feel any more relaxed though, feeling his heart drop into his stomach as he glanced up to his director.

He gulped hard, feeling his face pale a fraction. He hoped Victor didn’t notice. “Good,” he all but squeaked, clearing his throat quickly. “S-she’s got a real knack for it.”

Victor’s small smile stretched out into a full blown grin.

“That’s what I like to hear,” he said, sparkle in his eye so genuine Yuuri really didn’t want to have to be the one to pop it... “No problems? She concentrating?”

Yuuri glanced down to Sofia.

She glared out of the corner of her eye, her phone tucked just out of sight from Victor’s perspective - but Yuuri knew it was there. He could expose her so easily, the challenge in her eyes daring and competitive…

It would be the right thing to do, the nerdy part of his brain argued. In the real working world, she wouldn’t be able to get off scot-free, and Yuuri’s manager had specifically instructed him to tell on her - by not doing so, Yuuri was directly ignoring him. It wasn’t like him. He just didn’t do that.

But at the same time, Yuuri didn’t want to snuff out the proud look in Victor’s eye, didn’t want to make an enemy of Victor’s sister...

“No,” he shook his head, making up his mind quickly. He glanced back up to Victor, forcing a smile. “No problems. She’s awesome.”

Victor looked like Yuuri had just given him the stars.

“That’s great,” he beamed, delighted. “That’s really great. Well, I’ll be in meetings for a while now, but if you need anything - call me.” His eye caught Yuuri’s again, bright blue sparkling gloriously. “Thanks, Yuuri. I owe you.”

Yuuri just nodded as Victor slipped away - still grinning - feeling his gut churn with guilt and pride at the same time. He’d lied, given Sofia a bit of leash… he just hoped she didn’t choke him with it.

Once Victor was out of earshot, Sofia tilted her head in Yuuri’s direction, a small smirk playing on her lips. Her phone - still tucked just under the table - was dim, Yuuri noticed.

“Why didn’t you tell him?” she asked, jerking her head back in her brother’s direction.

_ Because I want you to like me one day,  _ he answered in his head, feeling the blush rise high on his cheekbones. If he and Victor were serious, family might come into it one day. Ratting Sofia out to her big brother wasn’t exactly how Yuuri wanted her impression of him to be. On her good side would always be a good start.

He stuck to a much safer line in reality though, reaching out for his glass of water. Lying to his boss - albeit his boyfriend-boss - made him anxious.

“Because I’m nowhere near as uncool as you think I am,” he said, taking a smooth sip and forcing his eyes forward to his computer, back to his work.

He didn’t see Sofia’s mouth curl into a grin. 

“So how long have you been dating?”

Yuuri sprayed the water all over his computer screen.

 

* * *

 

Victor was torn on his way home. On one hand, a part of him had been relieved when he’s come out of his meeting at six to find Sofia wasn’t in the office still, glad to have the peaceful drive home by himself and assuming that she’d taken a cab. On the other, he knew he should have made the excuse to get himself out on time. She was his sister. He was responsible for her.

It was too late to change it though, as Victor fiddled with his front door key. His only regret was that he hadn’t been able to see Yuuri any more that day either. Maybe it had been deliberate. Maybe Yuuri hadn't wanted to see him, so sick of Sofia maybe that he-

Victor paused in the doorway, hand still on the open door handle.

There was… Yuuri.

Sat on the sofa with his legs folded underneath him and Makkachin on his lap, laptop on the coffee table - plugged into the TV - and game controller in hand, was Yuuri. His eyes were trained on the TV screen, barely blinking from his intense concentration. Victor hadn’t expected to see him there…

… he certainly hadn’t expected to see him there playing Overwatch with his sister.

“You got shatter?”

“Get the Mercy!  _ GET THE MERCY!!” _

Sofia all but screamed across the living room at Yuuri, similarly barely blinking away from the game. She was curled up on the armchair to the side, fingers working furiously over her controller.

Victor didn’t know what to think. “What the…”

Sofia glanced over her shoulder, so fast her hair was like a blur, whipping through the air as she turned back to the game.

“He’s cool,” she said, not taking her eyes off the screen again. “You better tell mum soon though. She’ll skin you alive for keeping this from her...”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had an intern who did that and my boss told me to go rat the kid out to his dad (who works in the same building) if he was on his phone again and omg, it was the most horrifying, cringe thing I've ever been asked to do. No. Just no.
> 
> Also, please don't come for me if the Overwatch lines don't make sense. My bf screams those things at the computer when he plays. I have no idea what they actually mean xD


	70. Rescue Mission

Victor was cursed. Honestly, what else could it possibly be? It was monthend - a stressful monthend as it was! He didn’t need this. He really didn’t. Nothing else could possibly go wrong…

Except it was.

Victor stared at the smoke streaming from under the bonnet of his car with a bitter heart, hand curled into a fist so tight his knuckles were white.

It couldn’t be happening.

He needed to be home - not stuck on the side of the road while his car destroyed itself. Reports needed to be run. Data needed to be checked. It needed to be done before the automatic updates hit the system later that evening… he desperately needed to log on. Yakov would kill him.

So when the roadside rescue he called said it could be up to four hours before anyone could be with him, Victor felt like walking into traffic.

“I’m sorry, sir,” the operator said down the phone. They didn’t sound sorry at all. “We’re very busy tonight. The cold had caused a lot of problems for a lot of cars and with the snow coming…”

_ Right…  _ Victor tilted his head up, eyes lifting to the dark sky. He couldn’t see any stars. It must be cloudy. He’d forgotten about the snow.

He had no choice but to wait.

The minute he hung up the phone, he looked around him in despair. If there was a cafe, a bar - anything with wifi, he could work. He could be okay. As it was, all he saw was houses. There wasn’t even a corner shop. He was stuck.

And it was cold. 

He knew it was about to snow in a few hours, but until he hung up the phone he’d been too preoccupied to notice the chill. It had to be freezing -  _ literally!  _ If not a few degrees under. 

He shivered in his coat, no match for the brutal winter chill. He’d underestimated American winters. He should have been better prepared. He wanted to get back in his car and at least enjoy the last dregs of the heating… but while smoke still leaked out from under the bonnet, he didn’t dare step foot back in the thing. He was stuck.

He couldn’t wait there for four hours though. He’d freeze. His fingers were already going numb around his phone starting to shake violently. He had to call someone to pick him up. The breakdown guy had said they would call when they were twenty minutes away but until then, Victor needed help.

He jabbed at his phone with poor accuracy, finger shuddering too much to type right the first time round. It took him three attempts to click the right contact, listening impatiently to the dial tone as he held the phone up to his froze ear.

Finally, it clicked.

“Yuuri?” he gasped, air like ice in his lungs. “I need your help.”

 

* * *

 

Yuuri had good wifi. Victor appreciated it as he sat with a blanket draped over his shoulders and his back leaned against the warm radiator in Yuuri’s room, laptop on his knees and phone smushed between his ear and his shoulder.

“You sure it’s okay?” he asked with his teeth dipping into his bottom lip uncertainly. “ I just don’t know when the car will be moving again and if it starts snowing and I get stuck-”

“ _ Honestly, Victor _ ,” Mila reassured down the line. “ _ It’s fine. They’re with us. They’re fine. We don’t mind. We’ll look after them.” _

Victor sighed in relief, letting his eyes flutter shut. The dogs were taken care of - that was the most important thing. He really didn’t deserve such good neighbors. “Thank you,” he sighed. “I’ll let you know if I get home at a reasonable hour.”

He highly doubted that he would, given his luck.

At least, as he clicked off the phone, it looked like he’d be able to download his reports in time, just about beating the system update by a narrow half an hour. He suspected Yuuri had broken a few speed limits to get to him as fast as he had…

He hadn’t heard anything from the roadside rescue man - but also, nor had he heard anything from the police about his car exploding, so that was good. 

He just tried to focus on his work. The more he could do here, the less he would have to worry about later on top of his car trouble.

...but he was in Yuuri’s  _ bedroom _ . It was impossible not to be distracted. 

It wasn’t what he’d imagined. It was tidier than he’d expected of a man Yuuri’s age. Everything was neat and organised, books neatly stacked on shelves and his desk clear - even the posters on the wall were perfectly straight, figure skaters that Victor didn’t recognise lining the room. Yuuri must be quite the fan. Victor found it cute.

A knock on the door distracted him. 

“Hey,” Yuuri smiled round the crack in the doorway, slipping inside. A mug steamed in one hand, and a bowl of something Victor couldn’t see with chopsticks folded over the top in the other. “Sorry to bother you… I thought you might be hungry…”

Victor must have died, he decided quickly. His car must have exploded after all with him still inside it, or he must have froze to death on the streets - to be in Yuuri’s room, have Yuuri make dinner for him, and get to see the way his shirt rose up just a little to reveal a slither of skin above his sweatpants was surely too much of a blessing for any living man. 

It took Victor a minute to remind himself to keep his mouth shut, pulling up his slack jaw with a snap. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Yes,” he said, voice a pitch higher than usual. “Yes, I am quite hungry actually.”

He hadn’t had a chance to eat at the office - he was starving!

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected Yuuri to have made. Yuuri had never made him dinner before - hell, Victor had never even been to Yuuri’s flat before except for the one time he’d brought him home sick! Everything was new, all of it a new privilege. And honestly, the food itself could have been nothing but an overturned Pot Noodle and Victor would have loved it because Yuuri had made it. Sort of. 

As it was, it wasn’t Pot Noodle.

It was rice, and egg, and breaded meat, vegetables cuddled in the corner of the bowl, still steaming pleasantly with heat. It smelt  _ good. _

“It’s Katsudon,” Yuuri explained before Victor had to ask, handing the bowl over and straightening up with a new flush of colour on his cheeks. He set the mug down on the desk, fingers playing with the hem of his shirt. “It’s my favourite. It maybe not be as good as my mother makes it, but… I thought you might need it after a day like today.”

Victor could have kissed Yuuri.

“I-is there anything else you need?”

Victor thought for a moment, finger over his lip. “Yes,” he finally decided. Yuuri’s spine straightened. “I need… a kiss. Yes, one kiss please - and a cuddle. That would do nicely.”

Victor vowed to remember the way Yuuri’s mouth stretched into a brimming smile for the rest of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... sorry, I've been off the grid lately, though I am kinda thinking that some of you must be starting to get used to my quarterly meltdowns by now. Sorry. I am terrible. Tbf, this chapter was my last week - only I didn't have a hot bf to rescue me when my car broke down in the snow at monthend late in the evening and I handled it a LOT less calmly. Hope everyone is being safe with the weather. Stay safe and warm!
> 
> I hope this chapter is not a one off and am hoping to get back on schedule soon. If I'm not back on Monday though... just don't hold your breath alright. Hold me. I'm still 80% broken.

**Author's Note:**

> Keep tabs on my tumblr [here](https://justrae2010.tumblr.com/) and check out my other YOI fics [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/justrae2010/pseuds/justrae2010)
> 
> Please drop a comment before you go !
> 
> Hope you liked it!


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